Hear No Evil
by stray3011
Summary: When a young woman from McGee past is in danger in Hawaii he must call on the Five O to help protect her and eventually himself from that evil. May become slash swapped crossover
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS or Hawaii Five O or any of the characters, I'm just going to play with them for a while. This story may become a little slashy in later chapters so be warned.

Timothy McGee groaned when his phone began ringing at 0300, but due to the training he received under former Gunnery Sergeant Leroy Jethro Gibbs, he answered the phone while starting to get dressed assuming that the MCRT had just landed another case.

"McGee"

"Tim", the voice on the other end was scared and timid, but one he recognized immediately.

"Sandy. What's wrong?", his big brother instincts went into overdrive at the sound of her voice.

Sandy Watson was a young woman who had been kidnapped by her father during Tim's first case as an official member of the MCRT, eleven years ago. She was beautiful, talented and totally blind. Tim had reconnected with her a couple of years after the case do to his involvement with the Big Brothers/ Big Sisters program and she held a special place in his heart right along with his biological sister.

"Tim, I'm scared. I think I heard my Dad's voice on campus today, and again tonight when I was leaving the library after a late night study session."

Sandy's hearing was astoundingly accurate and Tim held no doubt that if she said she heard something it was there, even if no one else heard.

"Did you go to the police?"

"No, not yet. I just got back to my dorm room and called you."

"Okay, stay there and do not open the door for anyone. Is Jethro with you?"  
Jethro was a very large German Shepard and former marine drug detection dog, that Tim had retrained as a service animal for Sandy. The dog not only aided the young woman in getting around he was also very protective of her and kept her safe from humans dangers as well.

"Always."

"Good. Have you heard of the Five O unit?"

"Yeah there the Governor's Task Force here in Hawaii."

"I know the head of the unit a Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett, Navy Seal. I will contact him and have him go to your dorm to pick you up and watch over you until I can get there. I will call you back after I talk to him and I will stay on the phone with you until he gets there."  
"Tim, you don't have to come all the way to Hawaii just because I got a little spooked.", she felt bad for worrying the man she considered an older brother and didn't want to put him out any further.

"Hey, you call, I answer. That's the way it's always going to be for us, it's the way big brothers are hard wired. Don't open your door until you hear from me. Understood."

"Yeah, love you Tim."

"Love you too."

Tim took a deep breath to steady his nerves and calm himself, before looking up the number he was going to need to call in the cavalry to keep his surrogate sister safe while he was in the air flying to her.

"McGarrett."  
"Steve. It's Tim McGee. I need your help."  
Steve heard the tension in the voice over the phone, and the grin at that was on his face disappeared in an instant.

"What you need Gemcity?"  
"My surrogate sister, Sandy Watson, is a sophomore at the University of Hawaii, she just called me scared out of her mind. She thinks that her father who kidnapped her as a child is on campus stalking her."  
"Did she see him? Is she somewhere safe?"  
"Steve, she's blind but she has the most astounding sense of hearing. If she said she heard her father's voice she did. She's locked in her dorm room with her service dog a seventy-five pound German Shepherd who I had trained to not only guide her but protect her as well."  
Steve had been getting ready to leave since Tim had said he needed his help and was ready to walk out the door.

"What's her location Tim?"  
Tim gave him at dorm location and room number just as another call beeped through, he looked at the caller id information to see that it was Sandy once again calling him.

"It's Sandy, let me patch her through so you can talk to her on the way there."  
"Tim" she was crying as she spoke "He's here, at my dorm."

They could hear the loud banging and yelling through the phone.

"Open this door you little bitch. I'm your father, you better listen to me. I spent ten years in prison because of you and that whore you call a mother. You owe me, Sandy. OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR!"  
"Sandy, calm down. Help is on the way.", Tim said in a much calmer voice than he was feeling.

Steve was in the Camaro driving like a bat out of hell to the University. He had also radioed dispatch to call for the rest of Five O to meet him there.

"Sandy, this is Steve McGarrett, I'm a friend of Tim's and I'm on the way and so are the rest of the Five O and HPD. Are you okay."  
"I... I'm scared...b..b..but I'm not hurt."  
"Good stay on the phone with us."  
"Sandy, can you calm Jethro down, and get him to quit barking so we can hear you better." Tim was trying to hear what her father was yelling through the door so he could make him pay for every threat made.

Sandy quieted Jethro and continued talking to the two men, "I can hear sirens."

Steve quickly checked in to find out who was approaching, "Sandy that's not possible the nearest unit is still a couple of miles away."  
"I know but I hear them."  
Tim just laughed, "I told you Steve, she has unbelievable hearing."  
There was more loud banging on her door and screaming threats coming from her father, before the sirens could be heard by the man outside her door.

"This ain't over. You owe me two million dollars.", and with that the man was gone.

Sandy finally gave into the tears that she had been fighting during the crisis and whispered, "Please hurry."  
"I'm pulling into the dorm now." Steve said reassuringly.

"I'm on the next flight." Tim said at the same time.

The young woman wrapped her arms around the large dog and cried into his fur.

AN: Well here's my newest story and my first ever attempt at a cross-over even if it is more like a guest appearance Let me know what you think. :) stray


	2. Chapter 2

Tim's heart broke hearing Sandy's sobs over the phone knowing he was too far away to do anything but offer soft platitudes over the phone. He did his best to comfort her all the while holding a tight reign on his temper. While Tim maybe known as the most even tempered member of his team it was not because he didn't have one, it was because he knew how to control and focus that energy.

Tim finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Steve knocking on her dorm room door. Between Steve and Jethro he felt sure Sandy would be safe until he was able to reach her... Jethro, Jethro... "Steve, holster your weapon, NOW!", Tim screamed over the phone.

"Sandy don't open the door."

Thankfully both people half the world away stop upon hearing the terror in his voice.

"What's wrong?", the question was asked in stereo.

"Jethro is trained to protect, as well as guide Sandy. If anyone he doesn't know approaches her with a weapon drawn he will see it as a threat. I didn't think you wanted to fight him off."

"Nice, Gemcity. I'll warn the others when they get here, anything else I need to know."  
"Yeah," Tim groused. "Don't call me that."

Steve chuckled over the phone a silly smile on his face as he knocked once again on the door and told Sandy that it was safe for her to open it up.

Tim stayed on the phone until he heard Steve safely entered the room, "Sandy, I'm going to get on the first flight I can, I will call you as soon as I land in Hawaii."

Sandy hung up her phone but Steve stayed on his phone with Tim. "I got her Tim. She won't leave my sight until you get here."  
"Thanks Steve, I'll call you with my flight info. Bye Sandy."  
The girl on the floor hugging the dog just smiled.

Tim looked at his clock has he hung up the phone 0405, he had time to call the airline and purchase his ticket before he had to get to the office to explain his unexpected leave.

He arrived at the office an hour and a half later, his ticket purchase and his flight leaving at 0900, he hurried to his desk to start filling out the necessary paperwork and getting everything he would need to hand over to Gibbs to clear his workload for his leave.

He had just finish sending the leave request to HR when Gibbs entered the bullpen to begin the day.

"Hey boss, I have an emergency that I need to take care of, I need some time down."

The tension emanating from the younger man caught his attention, causing him to to move emotionally from curiosity to worry.

"What happened McGee?"  
"Sandy called me from Hawaii during the night, apparently Mike Watson was released from prison a year ago and he tracked her to her dorm room."  
"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine. I called in a favor and had help show up to keep an eye on her until I can get there."  
"McGarrett." Gibbs growled.

"Boss, I know how you feel about Steve..."  
"Dammit, McGee! HE IS DANGEROUS."

"He's a little reckless, but he's not dangerous..."  
"His team was sent to extract us from the school in Afghanistan, he decided to engage with hostiles on the way back. We had civilians with us. That makes him dangerous. He doesn't think things through before he acts."

"I didn't have many options available to me at 0300, Boss."  
"You could have called me Tim.", Gibbs said softly.

"Boss, he was there. You weren't, I wasn't. He got to her when I couldn't and he's keeping her safe from her father until I get there. Is my leave approved?"  
"Of course, when do you leave."  
"0900, I call you from the Pearl Harbor office when I get there and update you on what's happening."

"I'll give you a lift to the airport." Gibbs finally conceded, unhappily.

"Thanks, boss." Tim was grateful that Gibbs had finally approved his actions even if he didn't like them. Since the mission in Afghanistan there was a change in their relationship, neither man acknowledged it verbally and Tim had made a point to not try to figure it out mentally, but he had found many sleepless nights thinking about the older man. Tim knew he was bisexual since he was a teenager, but Gibbs was straight that was that. End of discussion.

Gibbs was watching the younger man shut down his computer, grab his badge and weapon and his overnight bag from under his desk. He didn't let himself think about the sudden feeling of abandonment he was feeling, Tim wasn't leaving him he was just going take care of his surrogate sister in Hawaii. He would return shortly and Gibbs would use the time to figure out exactly what he was feeling for the younger man. Once he got back they would have a nice long talk over cowboy steaks at his house.

The ride to the airport was silent, both men lost in thoughts of the other and neither realizing what the other was thinking.

Gibbs walked with Tim to the ticket counter, "Take care, Tim. Give Sandy my best when you see her."  
"I will. Steve will keep her safe until I get there.", Tim said as much to himself as to Gibbs because he really needed to hear it.

Gibbs nodded and walked away with a wave of his hand.

"But who is going to keep both of you safe from him.", he mumbled under his breath.

AN: This is set in season one of Hawaii Five O and approximately one year after Anonymous Was A Woman in NCIS. All thoughts and comments welcomed. Please review. :) stray


	3. Chapter 3

AN: I am aware that the air dates of the two shows do not match up but I wanted certain aspects of both story lines in my story, please allow me this suspension of reality the date is 201?. Also Gibbs calling Steve dangerous IS the pot calling the kettle black, and this type of irony between the two men will continue through out much of the story, it was VERY intentional. Now on with the story...

Steve radioed the units coming to the dorm that the room was secure and instructed them that no one entering the room was to be armed to avoid conflict with the very nervous German Shepard that was pacing between Sandy and Steve. Jethro had followed orders when told to stand down and allow Steve entrance into the room, but he wasn't letting his guard down and was keeping the man under close surveillance. Steve wasn't going to risk upsetting the animal further.

"Steve, who is Danny?", Sandy asked softly.

"My partner, why?" asked the confused Navy Seal.

"He is on the way up and he is upset about being asked to hand over his weapon..."  
Just then Danny's voice could be heard by both occupants in the room, "... Detective, and I DO NOT hand over my sidearm at a crime scene, stupid pineapple invested island ..."

He walked into the room gun in hand, "Steve why in earth would HP... Holy Shit!"

Sandy managed to grab Jethro's lead and still the large animal before he could lunge at the armed, blond haired man entering the room.

Steve grabbed Danny and threw him out of the room closing the door behind the both of them just to be safe. "Do you ever listen to simple instructions?", Steve asked checking his partner to make sure he wasn't harmed by the rough removal from the room.

Danny threw his hands up in the air and shouted, "What the hell, Steve, why isn't that beast restrained, you know large chains, muzzle, fifty foot electrical fence? It has teeth bigger than Gracie's arms."

"That my friend is our next case, Sandy was kidnapped by her father when she was a child , he tracked her down tonight and threaten her. Jethro is her service animal, also he is a retired Marine so he is a bit protective of her."

"Since we're now going to handling her protection, he's going in a kennel, right?", Danny asked hopefully.

"Nope, he's also her seeing eye dog.", Steve stated with a grin.

"You mean you expect me to work with that beast, who could gnaw off my arm, around?"

Steve smirked and nodded.

"Steve", a timid voice came out from behind the door "I have calmed Jethro down, if you want to come back inside."

Steve grabbed Danny service revolver and then took his back up from his ankle holster and handed both to a nearby officer, "He'll retrieve these shortly."

"I AM NOT GOING IN THERE UNARMED, STEVEN."  
"Yes you are." Steve opened the door and pushed the blond hair man inside.

Kono and Chin had just arrived unarmed and followed the two men into the room, Jethro immediately stood between Sandy and the new arrivals, staring down Danny to make it clear that he was not welcomed by the animal. Steve grinned at the battle of wills between his partner and the dog.

"Jethro, stand down." Sandy said firmly hearing the new arrivals, "They are with Steve, they are friends."  
Jethro cautiously walked up to Kono first and sniffed her hand, after a few minutes he allowed her to pet him confirming her as a friend, he then repeated the action with Chin, however when he got to Danny he simply looked at him and walked away. He wasn't ready to play nice with the Detective.

The other three Five O members laughed at the stubbornness shown by man and beast.

"Don't worry, Danno, you pulled a gun on me when we first met and I forgave you.", Steve said laughing.

He turned to the young woman, "Sandy are you ready to go."  
"Is all of this necessary, I can stay here until Tim arrives from DC."  
"I told your brother that I wouldn't let you out of my sight until he got here, are you going to make a liar out of me."

Sandy took a deep breath and got ready to try to argue the man down, but was cut off by him instead, "I am well aware of the stubborn streak your brother has and I can safely assume you have it too, but my mind is not going to change. Until Tim arrives you are with me, got it."  
"Yes" she finally submitted, reaching to tap the large dog softly on the head, "Jethro, overnight bag."

The members of the task force sat in stunned silence as the animal nosed open her closet door and grabbed a bag out of it, dropping it by Sandy foot. "Thank you."

Sandy quickly went around her room packing for a few days and grabbing her school books and work that she would need so she wouldn't fall behind while they tracked down her father.

All the while she was packing she was mumbling and griping to herself about how unnecessary all this was and if her father showed back up she would just sic Jethro on him.

Kono sat on the bed in the room and was soon joined by Jethro who had taken a liking to the young woman, before long he was laying by her side allowing her to scratch behind his ears and pet him at will, however whenever Danny would move he would raise his head and stare the man back into the corner where her was standing. Chin cautiously approached the animal, "A bit of a lady's man, uh boy."

The dog raise his head at him and seemed to grin as he let his tongue out and licked Chin's hand before letting out a soft bark of agreement. This had everyone in the room grinning and lighten the mood greatly.

Sandy finally call the dog to her side an attached the walking harness to him, "Okay, I'm ready."  
Steve walked to her side and allowed Jethro to acknowledge his presence before he placed a guiding hand on her arm, "Let's go. Chin walk ahead of us and make sure the way to the Camero is secure."  
Danny's eyes widen, "That beast is NOT riding in MY car."  
Steve just smiled as they walked out the room.

"I mean it Steven, Not in my car."  
When Jethro past the man he looked at him an gave a soft snort as if saying "Try and stop me."  
Jethro did ride in the Camero all the way to Five O Headquaters and Danny complained the entire way.

When they arrived at The Palace, Danny went straight into his office and shut the door to pout in private, much to the amusement of his teammates.

Sandy finally asked the one question everyone in the room was wondering, "Steve, how do you know Tim?"  
"A little over a year ago, I was tracking an arms dealer in Afghanistan when we received orders to help extract a pair of Navy cops from a school that had come under attack. They had ignored orders to evacuate the night before and stayed to help defend the women there from local insurgents. Honestly I figured we'd find a burned out shell of a school and collect a couple of dead bodies. Instead we find the school still standing and a bunch of dead insurgents."

Steve is grinning to himself at the memory and shaking his head at the improbability of the situation.

" We disembarked from the Hummers and start to evaluate the situation when out walks the two cops from the school, one a hard as nails former Marine Gunnery Sergeant..."  
Sandy interrupts him at this point "Gibbs."

"Yeah" Steve says but he can't hide the dislike from his voice or the grimace that appears on his face.

"The other was your brother, looking just like a twelve year old kid playing dress up in his father's kevlar. I swear, I had to look twice to make sure he was old enough to shave, much less handle the weapon he was holding."  
Sandy had an ear to ear grin on her face, "You underestimated him didn't you?"  
Steve grinned back, "Not just me the whole Seal Team. We thought he must have been a teacher at the school or something. Hell I almost dropped my gun when he introduced himself as a Special Agent. What happened on the way back to the base is still classified, but by the time we got there I had a whole new level of respect for Gemcity."

Chin looked confused, "I thought you said his name was Tim McGee."

"Yeah, but one of my team noticed that Special Agent Timothy McGee bore a striking resemblance to the author Thom E Gemcity. It kind of stuck."  
Sandy giggled at the statement, "He didn't tell you?"

"Nope, I was living here in Hawaii, before I picked up one of the books and made the connection. Called him up in the middle of the night to give him hell for not saying a word."

Chin was confused for a couple of seconds before he wrote down the two names and made the connection. He laughed, "Took you a couple of months Steve."

"Hey give me a break, I was chasing Hesse and then dealing with my father's murder. My mind wasn't on his silly word games.", Steve said looking sheepish. 

AN: Next chapter will deal with the guys from NCIS and soon Tim's plane should be arriving in Hawaii. Let me know what you think. :) stray


	4. Chapter 4

Tony was already at his desk when Gibbs returned to the office and was quick to point out that his teammate was no there.

"Boss, Probie is running late and his cell has been turned off."  
The statement was part that of a tattle-tell, but all who heard it could hear the worry behind the teasing.

"Not late DiNozzo, Tim had a family emergency and had to take some down time. I just got back from bringing him to the airport."  
"Sara or Sandy?"

"Sandy." Gibbs stopped and turned to look directly at the man. "Pull up everything we got on the Watson case, he may need it when he gets there."

Tony got busy pulling up the requested report when his partner Ellie Bishop walked into the bullpen from the direction of the snack shop.

"What's up?" she asked sitting on the corner of his desk.

"Reviewing an old case.", he said looking over to their boss.

Gibbs just grunted as he got out of his chair and quickly went to the Director's office. As was his habit he walked in without knocking and got right to the point. "I want you to send my team to Hawaii, Mike Watson was released from prison a year ago and last night he threatened his daughter at the University of Hawaii."  
"I am well aware of the facts, the file was waiting on my desk this morning, as was Agent McGee's leave request. So I am also aware that he is already on the way due to his personal involvement with the young woman."

He paused and looked up at the older man, "After reviewing the file and the report from the Five O Task Force in Hawaii I see no need to send the whole team, McGee can liaison between the Task Force and NCIS."  
"I don't trust McGarrett.", Gibbs growled.

"Personal or professional, Gibbs?"

"Professional, he disregards the safety of those around him and is a danger to anyone who works for him."  
It took every ounce of control for Vance to not bust out laughing at the statement made by the most impulsive team leader that NCIS had ever employed. Instead he just raised an eyebrow and grabbed a toothpick from his desk drawer.

"Even if I were tempted to send a team to aid with the investigation, it would not be you Gibbs. Mike Watson got a ten year sentence instead of twenty-five because an NCIS Special Agent physically assaulted him during the arrest. Now would you happen to remember who the agent was?"

"I might have been slightly out of line, but he had his wife and daughter kidnapped to embezzle two million dollars from the Navy, and he showed no remorse that his actions almost cost them their lives."  
"Regardless ten instead of twenty-five, he'd still be in prison if it weren't for you. McGee can handle things on that end and you will handle things over here, clear."  
Gibbs glared at the other man then turned on his heel and stormed out of the office.

Tony was looking up when Gibbs stormed down the stairs and slammed the button to call the elevator that to head out, "Oh, they must have been discussing Afghanistan up there?"  
"What makes you think that?", Bishop asked puzzled.

"Haven't you noticed that ever since Boss and Probie came back last year, that whenever the mission to Afghanistan is brought up, Probie goes all doe-eyed and Bossman gets stinked-faced."  
"UH, what's stinked-faced?"

"You know that look like you have three day old sewage stuck to your upper lip, stinked-faced. That's besides the point, why would Gibbs and the Director be discussing Afghanistan, right after Probie leaves on a mysterious emergency to Hawaii."

"Tony, you are making even less sense than usual.", the young woman said shaking her head.

Tony gets up and motions for Ellie to follow him, "Field trip time."  
"Where are we going?"  
"Abby's lab, if anyone can figure out this mystery it's our mistress of the dark."

Both agents got up and headed to Abby's lab one with purpose and the other in total confusion.

Abby saw the two agents as soon as they exited the elevator and turned down the music in her lab to talk with them, "What's up, guys. You caught a case."  
"Not an official one, Abs, but we do have a mystery that needs solving."

The Goth rubbed her hands together excitedly, "Oh, I love a good mystery. Where's Timmy?"

"That's part of the mystery Abby.", Tony quickly got Abby caught up to speed on the activities in the bullpen that morning and his conclusion that the Director and Gibbs had been discussing, the previous years mission in Afghanistan.

"So the question is what is in Afghanistan and Hawaii, that would make Timmy go doe-eyed and Bossman stinked-faced.", the Goth summed it up.

"Correct."Tony said grinning.

While Tony and Abby had been talking Ellie had got on a computer and started trying to find out what all of this might mean, "Uh guys?", she said looking up hesitantly. "I don't think it's a what, I think it might be a who."

"English Bishop English.", Tony said turning to her.

Ellie tapped a few more buttons on the computer and a picture of Lieutenant Commander Steven J McGarrett came up on the plasma in the lab.

"Whose this?", Abby said waggling her eyebrows.

"Meet Lieutenant Commander Steven McGarrett, reserved Navy officer and head of the Seal Team that was sent in after Gibbs and McGee in Afghanistan. He is now head of Five O, a special task force set up by the Govenor of Hawaii."  
"Okay this explains Tim's doe-eyes, but why would he make Bossman go stinked-faced.", Tony asked confused.

The two woman looked at each other unbelieving the obtuseness of the man in between them and reached up at the same time to give him two very hard Gibbs' slaps.

Tony's eyes widen when the implications of what they had just figured out hit him.

Tim got off the plane in Hawaii tired and sore after sitting for so long. The only thing keeping him upright was the thought of seeing Sandy for himself. His thoughts of his surrogate sister was interrupted by a loud bellow from up in the distance.

"Hey Gemcity.", he ground his teeth at the name.

Before he could take another step, he found himself embraced by the much stronger man and having the wind knocked out of him by the hard slaps on the back.

"Air, Steve." he gasped.

When Steve let him go he saw the shorter blond haired man that had been following behind him. Steve quickly went to make the introductions, "Danno, Gemcity. Gemcity, Danno."  
Both men groused out at the introductions "Don't call me that.", causing Steve to smile happily.

Mike Watson was at the airport trying to get back to the mainland before he could be captured for the stupid stunt he had pulled yesterday after a hard days drinking. When he saw the arrival of a man that had been burned into his brain. Timothy McGee had been instrumental in uncovering his plot to walk away with two million in money from the Navy slush funds and then he had the audacity to take his place in his daughter's heart. All thoughts of leaving the islands vanished and he quickly started making plans to make the other man pay.

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Coming up a heart to heart with Ducky and Gibbs and Mike starts causing trouble in Hawaii. As always please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	5. Chapter 5

Gibbs returned to the Navy Yard a coffee in one hand and a tea in the other and headed to Autopsy to talk to Ducky. If anyone could help him work out the emotional tempest he found himself in it would be the elderly medical examiner.

"Jethro, to what do I owe the unexpected visit?", Ducky said looking up from his desk when he heard the arrival of the elevator."

"Mike Watson got out of prison last year and tracked down Sandy to Hawaii."  
"Are we heading out to look into it?"

"No, the Five-O Task force is taking care of the matter and McGee flew out this morning and will work with them."  
"Oh dear."  
"Duck why can't anyone else see that, that man is a danger to everyone around him?"  
"Jethro, I have often wondered during this past year if the anger that you direct toward Commander McGarrett is rooted somewhere within you."  
"What are you saying, Ducky?", Gibbs growled in warning.

"I would never question your actions out there, but I wonder if maybe you are?"  
"I would NEVER deliberately put McGee or anyone on my team in danger."  
"But isn't that exactly what happened?"  
Gibbs just glared at the older man and stormed out without saying another word.

"My old friend, that is the question you must come to grips with if you are to ever put Afghanistan behind you.", Ducky said softly to the retreating figure.

In Abby's lab the two MCRT team members and the forensic scientist, were trying to make since of their recent discovery,

"So the question is , is bossman being the overprotective daddy or the jealous want to be lover?" Abby couldn't keep the giggles out of her voice when she spoke.

"Abby don't ever say that again, I think I threw up a little bit." Tony said looking horror struck.

"Either way I don't think Tim is aware of the situation." Ellie added smirking at Tony's discomfort.

"Of course Probie wouldn't realize, they are both men and he has been very clear that he is not gay. I've asked him several times."  
"Uh, Tim isn't gay, Tony,

he's bisexual.", Abby said.

"What?" Tony looked like his brain was about to explode.

"He told me when we were dating." she confessed.

"So he lied to me?"

"No you asked if he was gay, he's not."  
"Semantics, Abby."  
"You guys can argue about that later, we still need to figure out the answer to Abby's question?" Ellie interrupted.

"What would that be?" all three jumped to face the voice that came from behind them.

"Uh, nothing Boss.", and the two team mates hurried(ran) out of the lab.

Tim left the airport with Danny and Steve and started to doze off in the back seat of the Camero as Steve drove them to the Palace, so he could be reunited with Sandy.

"Oh my God," Danny began one of his famous car rants, "How can you sleep with him driving like a manic."  
"Ridden with worst.", Tim mumbled.

"Worst, who on earth drives worst than Super Seal?"

"My Boss for one and my former teammate can put them both to shame on a good day.", Tim never opened his eyes as Danny paled at the statement.

"He's joking, right?", Danny turned to Steve.

"I don't know about his former teammate, but Gibbs is nothing but a menace on or off the road." Steve stated eyes hardening at the thought of the former Marine."  
Tim opened his eyes and glared at the back of the Seal's head, "Can you two give it a break? I swear whenever the two of you come up in the same sentence it gets so hostile that I consider going back to Afghanistan just to find a little peace and quite."

Steve slammed on the brakes of the car and pulled over to the side of the road to turn and look at Tim, "YOU ARE NEVER GOING BACK TO THAT DESERT!"

The sudden tension in the car had Danny resembling a cartoon character his head swiveling back and forth between one man and the other. "What am I missing here?"  
"Classified." came the growled response from both men.

Finally Tim lowered his eyes, "Sorry Steve, I'm just really tired and I desperately need to see that Sandy is okay with my own eyes."  
Steve nodded accepting the olive branch the other man was offering and turned to once again get them back on the road.

"She's fine, Tim. I left her at The Palace with the two other member of the Five-O and Jethro. No one is going to get near her there."  
As they pulled up to the headquarters Tim rolled up his sleeve to reveal the scars from his first meeting with Jethro and then loosened his collar revealing the second set.

"Woah, man. What happened to you?", Danny asked.

"Let's just say my first meeting with Jethro was a little hostile."  
"He did that to you?", Danny turned an angry glance to Steve. "I told you fifty foot electrical fence."

"No it's okay, it was all a misunderstanding, we worked it out a long time. He just feels guilty whenever we haven't seen each other for a while and wants to make sure I'm still okay. Since I don't feel like having him damage my shirt to check for himself, I just make it easy for him to see."

The three men walked into the building to the squealing "Timmy!" and a blur of fur and girl running to the man who just arrived.

Tim caught Sandy in his arms and gave her a tight hug looking her over for any signs of injury from her misadventure the night before. Seeing none he let out a sigh of relief before settling down on one knee to greet the impatient Shepherd.

The dog gently licked the scars on Tim's forearm and neck whimpering softly the whole time.  
"Hey boy, I'm fine. All's forgiven.", Tim said to the animal.

Sandy laughed sadly, "He's never forgiven himself, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Tim said rolling his sleeve back down and buttoning the collar of his shirt, all the while petting the dog.

Greetings out of the way, Tim was anxious to find out how far they had gotten in the search for Watson while he was in the air.

"Where are you with the search...", he began but was interrupted by the ringing of his phone.

"McGee."  
"Just arrived at Five-O Headquarters, Director."

"Okay, when should I be there?"  
He seemed unhappy with the response he got from the other end.

"I'm fine, Director. I'll get some sleep lat..."  
"Yes, sir. Tell Gibbs that I arrived safely and I'll call him as soon as I have something."  
"Sir?"

"That's not necessary.", he said a soft pout appearing on his face.

Sandy who could hear both ends of the conversation started laughing.

"Yes, sir." Tim said once again and handed the phone to Steve.

"McGarrett."

Steve listened to the man on the other end of the phone his smile getting larger by the minute.

"You have my word, Director Vance. I will take care of him like he was one of my own."  
"Thank you, sir."

He hung up the phone and handed back to the still pouting man.

"I have orders to take you somewhere and bunk you down for a minimum of twelve hours before we debrief you on any of our investigation so far."

Tim just looked at him clearly not happy with the turn of events.

"Okay folks" Steve address the member of the Five-O, "I'm taking Tim, Sandy and Jethro to my house, standard protection detail tonight, call me if you get any hits on the BOLO on Watson. Danny, I'll expect you there within the hour."

"If Sandy is leaving here, I need my bag.", Tim said walking over to the bag he had dropped on the floor when he hugged his sister.

The members of the Five-O were shocked by the sudden change from pouty Tim to hard as nails Tim right in front of their eyes.

Tim reached into the bag and pulled out his Sig which he clipped to his belt along with his NCIS badge, he then reached back in and grabbed a small Raven and ankle holster which he strapped to one ankle. Finally he reached in one more time for a deadly looking throwing knife and sheath which he strapped on the other ankle.

After checking that he had extra clips for both weapons he nodded to the group that he was ready. Steve was smiling at the preparations that the man had made while everyone else in the room just stood open-mouthed in shock.

"Hey bro, we're not going to make you fight off her father alone, man.", Chin was the first one to regain his voice.

Tim's soft green eyes had turned into hard emeralds when he spoke to the Hawaiian, "This is MY sister we're talking about.", he said flatly.

"Steve walked up and patted him on the back, "We got her Tim and no one is going to hurt her."  
"Damn straight.", was the reply as the two men and one dog surrounded the young woman and they left the building.

Mike Watson had carefully tail the three men from the airport to The Palace where Five-O was headquartered, and began to curse his bad luck under his breath. He was prepared to take on the young NCIS agent, but he had heard enough rumors about the special task force that he wasn't willing to take them on alone. He had friends on the mainland that would help him he just had to make sure that Tim McGee would follow him there.

He watched from across the street, and decided to cause a bit of trouble when he saw Sandy leaving the building being led by the huge German Shepard and flanked by the tall dark-haired man from earlier and Tim. He pulled a laser pointer out of his glove box and aimed it dead center on Tim's chest.

He then said "Sandy, he's dead, Bang Bang.", knowing her sensitive hearing would pick it up. He took off in the car before he could witness the chaos that followed.

AN: I'm in a bit of an unusual situation, before I begin posting a story I have it outlined and the final chapter is completely written and ready to post, however as I was roughing out a couple of future chapters last night my whole plot line took a hard left at Albuquerque so I have no idea how this is going to end anymore. So I guess this is now a WIP, please leave all thoughts and comments because I really need the feedback :) stray


	6. Chapter 6

Tim heard the gasp from Sandy, turned to make sure she was okay and noticed the red light on his chest. He was ready for the pain that he was sure to follow,but his main concern was the well-being of the woman by his side. He instinctively pushed her down and towards the other man making sure both were behind him.

"Jethro, protect!" he said while moving. Tim was fully ready to sacrifice himself for his sister and friend.

Steve also heard the gasp from the young woman and saw the light on his friends chest, he desperately tried to get to the man, but was caught off balance when Sandy was pushed into him knocking him to the ground. He steadied the woman while keeping her safely behind him and was grateful when Tim put the large dog on alert which allow him to reach his young friend and pull him to the safety of the vehicle that Sandy and Jethro were hunched behind. Even with all this going on he registered the sound of a vehicle leaving the scene.

"Are you okay?", he asked steely anger in his voice.

Tim took a deep breath and gathered his emotions, "Yeah."

It was then that he noticed the large crowd starting to gather around them and didn't want to risk Jethro perceiving anyone as a threat so he ordered, " Jethro, stand down."  
"Let's get her back inside.", Steve said uncomfortable with them being in the open with a crowd gathering.

Once they were back inside the building surrounded by the members of the Five-O, Sandy had calmed down enough to tell them exactly what she heard.

"Did either of you hear anything?", Danny asked.

Both of the men shook their heads.

"Are you sure you heard your father's voice?", Danny looked at the young woman questioningly.

This angered Tim slightly, "Danny, is your office sound-proofed."  
Danny was confused by the question, but nodded.

"Go into your office, close the door and call Steve." Tim directed.

Danny didn't understand why he was doing this but he could tell that it was important to the other man.

He went into the office and called Steve's cell "What am I supposed to do now?"  
Tim just smiled. "Tell him to hang up and come back out."  
As soon as he walked out the door Sandy told him what he had said word for word, "How?",the man asked confused.

"Through the phone.", was the simple reply.

No one in the room questioned if she heard her father again.

Steve gave Tim a hard look and said what everyone in the room had been thinking, "Tim, I don't think Sandy was the target, but simply the bait to lure you here. Mike Watson is after you."  
Tim nodded in agreement having come to the same conclusion as soon as he saw the dot on his chest.

"I'm going to have to insist that you go into protective custody until we capture him."

Tim turned to the man with his best Gibbs' glare, "Not happening."

Chin and Kono both took a step back at the weight of the look, but both Steve and Danny held their ground, "Tim, be reasonable..." Steve began.

"This idiot terrified my sister, simply to get me here and you expect me to hide in some safe house instead of tracking him down and making him pay. NOT HAPPENING!", Tim's anger was apparent in his voice and it was clear to everyone present that he was not going to back down.

Steve was steadily getting more frustrated with the man and it looked like a full out verbal war was about to take place when a soft voice diffused the situation, "Tim, for me please. I don't want to be alone right now." Sandy knew how to get what she wanted from her brother.

Tim grabbed her and pulled her into a tight embrace, "I'm fine. I know how to take care of myself."  
"I know but for one instant when he said you were dead I thought it might be true and it scared me. Please stay with me."  
Those simple words deflated all the anger in the man's body and he agree to go with Sandy into protective custody if only temporarily, to appease his sister.

Once Tim agreed to go into protective custody, Chin and Kono left the war room to move Steve's truck and Danny's car closer to the back entrance of the building and arrange police surveillance of the area until they were ready to leave.

Tim sat next to Sandy trying to comfort the distressed young woman by convincing her that it wasn't her fault that he was now in danger as well.

Steve entered his office followed by Danny to make a couple of call he really didn't want to make.

"Director Vance, please. Commander McGarrett calling."  
He was quickly patched through to the other man.  
"Vance."  
"Director we may have an unexpected problem on this end involving Tim."  
"What happened?"  
"It appears that Watson targeted Sandy simply to lure Tim here. He made a threat against his life today when we were leaving headquarters."  
"Is he okay."  
"Yes, Director."

"You do realize I have no choice but to inform Agent Gibbs of this development. He will insist on heading to Hawaii to help in the investigation."  
"That is your call, Director, but make sure he is aware my jurisdiction, my lead. If he tries any of his cowboy bullshit I will have his ass thrown off my island."

"Understood, Commander."

"Director, Tim is a friend and I will not tolerate that man endangering his life again because he can't see the forest for the trees."  
"Commander, the situation in Afghanistan was as much my fault as Agent Gibbs, I approved of Agent McGee's placement on the mission."  
"You did not ignore a bug out order and allow a high value target to be left unprotected in hostile territory. Hell the man did not even inform the base commander of Agent McGee's identity. The son of a Navy Admiral alone with one other person in the middle of the desert, it was an open invitation for every insurgent in the area to make a name for himself and Agent Gibbs didn't even acknowledge the danger he put the man in, much less take actions to protect him."

"Agent McGee was well aware..."  
"Agent McGee is a loyal young man who would not leave his boss' side no matter the danger to himself, something that Gibbs is well aware of, he deliberately endangered the both of them."

"I am aware of your feeling on this situation, and your warning to Agent Gibbs will be passed along, Commander."

Thank you, Director."  
"I will call you with their arrival time."

Director Vance hung up the phone and took a calming breath before having his assistant call Agent Gibbs to his office, "God, what did I do in a past life to deserve this?' he thought to himself.

While waiting for Gibbs to arrive Vance made travel arrangements for the MCRT to Hawaii and cleared his desk of all paperwork in preparation for the man's arrival, and the heated discussion that was soon to take place.

"Director, you wanted to see me."

"Sit down, Agent Gibbs."

Thirty minutes later, Agent Gibbs was seen running down the stairs from the Director's Office to the bullpen. Seconds later the MCRT was made aware of the impending trip and heading home to pack. As he left the office to get his gear one thought kept repeating itself through his head, 'Please Tim be safe until I can see you again."

AN:I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors but I write for my enjoyment and those gracious enough to spend their time reading the product of my over active imagination, if you are one of those people thank you very much. If you feel my work is "Painful" to read I am quite sure you can find something more suitable to your taste at the local bookstore. Next up Tim and Steve at Steve's home and Gibbs' arrival in Hawaii, also Watson will be up to more of his games. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	7. Chapter 7

AN: While anyone who has seen Anonymous Was A Woman knows the official version of the events that took place in Afghanistan, here you will finally be 'read in' to the classified version of those events ;) In other words, I'm going AU starting with the end of the episode. :) Stray

While Gibbs and company waited on the tarmac to board the military transport to Pearl Harbor, he was running the conversation he had with Vance through his mind. It was bad enough that he had one team member in danger half way around the whole, but the fact that he had to read in the other members of the MCRT on the classified version of last year's mission in Afghanistan was almost more than he could take.

"With you and McGarrett working together it's bound to come up, and I refused to allow McGee and Sandy to be further endangered because your team is unaware of the reasons behind the conflict between the two of you. I expect them to be fully read in before you touch down in Hawaii." were Vance's parting words to Gibbs when he left the office.

Would Tony and Ellie blame him? Did he still blame himself? No, he had come to terms with his actions and while he wasn't happy with the events that has occurred he knew that he had done what he needed to do. McGarrett was another whole ballgame, the man refused to acknowledge the danger he allow McGee to walk into, and instead blamed Gibbs wholeheartedly for the snafu that had occurred on the way back to base.

The three teammates boarded the transport and sat in the uncomfortable flights seats for their long trek across the US.

"Tony, Ellie before we get there I was told I have to read you in on the events of last year's mission in Afghanistan. You are aware that Agent McGee and myself had located the women but before help could arrive we were ordered to bug out, it was an order we ignored, and we were left to defend ourselves and the women at the school overnight until reinforcements could arrive."  
"Yeah, you defended yourselves and were airlifted out the following morning along with the civilians.", Tony stated giving the official version.

"Not exactly what happened, we weren't airlifted out, they sent in a Seal Team to extract us by ground."

"What happened?" it was Ellie that asked the question.

"Insurgents were hot on out heels the entire trip back, initially we thought they where after the women, but about thirty minutes into the trip our communications got jammed. McGee grabbed one of their laptops and in a blink of an eye got our communications back online, tracked the jamming signals to it's origin and hack into their communication. That's when all hell broke loose."

Gibbs looked at his team and ran a hand over his face before continuing with the briefing. The moment of truth had arrived.

"There was a lot of chatter about the son of a high ranking US officer being on the ground and several groups were closing in on his location."  
Ellie gasped when she realized who they where referring to and whispered, "Tim."

Gibbs nodded and both Tony and Ellie paled at the realization of what could have occurred.

"We were sitting ducks out there, our communication was being monitored and about two hundred insurgents were quickly closing in on our location. McGee did what he always does, he pulled a rabbit out of his hat, he volunteer to let himself be captured, so there would be a window of opportunity for the woman to escape. Him and the leader of the Seal Team, McGarrett, hobbled together a simple tracking device so we could find him once they had gotten safely away."

"Oh my God, so the insurgents had Tim?" Ellie said, Tony was simply opening and closing his mouth with no words coming out.

Gibbs looked them square in the eyes as he continued.

"For about forty-five minutes."  
"But you got him back, right Boss.", Tony finally got his voice back.

"Not me, the Seal Team. When the rescue mission took place I was under arrest, and facing treason charges. That idiot McGarrett decided since I was one of the few people aware of Tim's identity and I was the one who ignored the bug out order, that I must have been working with the insurgents to allow them to take McGee. Turns out a Petty Officer that had been supplying the weapons dealer the Seal team had been chasing recognized Tim when we arrived ans passed on the information, but by the time that information came out McGee had been rescued has sent to a secure military hospital. I didn't see him again until we were both back stateside."

Ellie always quick to read between the lines and see things others didn't looked horrified at her Boss, "How much?"  
"How much, what?", Tony asked.

"More than NCIS' annual operating budget.", Gibbs answered.

"Okay, what did I just miss?", Tony asked confused.

It was Ellie that answered, "Tony, Tim was held by the insurgents and escaped and if I know Tim he left them an ugly gift in their communication system when he hacked in. They were bound to put a price on his head."

"So, Probie, MY PROBIE, has a bounty on his head, from people who regularly decapitate people for fun.", Tony got up and started pacing the length of the plane. "Boss, were you ever planning on telling us?"

The two men just looked at each other and an uneasy silence fell over the group.

Steve had finally gotten Tim and Sandy to the relative safety of his home, HPD units were patrolling the area and the Five-O Team had grabbed whatever they needed to continue working from the house, while keeping a close eye on their guests.

Sandy was in the living room doing school work and grumbling about how she better not fall behind, with Jethro sitting at her heels.

Tim was up in Steve bedroom resting. Steve smirked when he thought about all the ways he had imagined the green-eyes beauty might end up in his bed over the last year, this was definitely not on the list.

He softly walked down the hall and peeked in to find the man still up and on his smart phone probably trying to check his e-mails or get some work done. Hell Steve wouldn't have been surprised to find out he had hacked the Five-O with just his phone after his show in the desert last year.

"Hey, do I have to handcuff you to the bed to make you get some sleep?", he said from the door.

"If you bring out the handcuffs, I definitely won't be sleeping.", Tim answered smiling seductively at the man.

Steve quietly closed the door and sat down on the side of the bed pulling the younger man into a firm embrace, "Told you a year ago, I don't share, and someone still has a tight grip on part of your heart. I can see it in your eyes."  
"It doesn't matter, he's very straight and he only see's me as a computer geek.", Tim answered snuggling deeper into the other man's arms.

"I don't share." Steve repeated as his lips descended on the man laying prone in his bed.

After several long minutes and a few passionate kisses Steve pulled back, "When he no longer has any of your heart, I be waiting. I have loads of patience but I'm very jealous."

He got up and walked back to the door, "Your team will be here in about twelve hours, get some sleep and I'll let you ride with me to Pearl to pick them up."

Steve left the room wondering who the man was that held that beautiful, gentle soul in his hands and was to foolish to see it. He would use the time he had with Tim to try and make the him forget him. By the time Watson was in custody maybe Tim would be willing to make Hawaii his new home. Steve walked back to the living room smiling to himself.

Sandy kept her head down until he had left the room and then she smiled to herself. She had strongly suspected that Tim had a crush on the Seal and after what she heard from the bedroom she knew that the Seal felt something for her brother too.

The only thing standing in their way was a hard-nosed Marine. She had her own reasons for not wanting her brother in a relationship with the man and now she had even more for wanting him to find happiness with the Seal. She was just going to have to do a little match-making while he was here.

Mike Watson had spent his time since leaving the Five-O headquarters doing research on the man he was determined to make pay for the loss of his little girl, because Sandy was no longer the sweet little girl that worshiped her father.

A couple of hours into his searching he found out about the bounty that Tim had on his head. He smiled to himself, he wouldn't even need to put himself in the line of fire to take out the man. All he had to do was make a couple of phone calls and soon someone would do all the dirty work for him. 

AN: Please don't string me up by my toe nails just yet the story isn't over, Gibbs' arrival got pushed back one chapter because I really needed to put forth my version of the events in the desert. Please review with all thoughts and comments. :) stray


	8. Chapter 8

Watson wasted no time getting on the phone with a friend of his from his early days in the Navy, Felix Stein. Felix had been a mediocre sailor with a bit of a temper. He had received a dishonorable discharge and soon there after used his military training to the benefit of whomever paid him the most. The best part was Felix owed Mike a favor, it had been Felix's need to get some money clean that had given Mike his idea to embezzle from the Navy, when that went south Felix had cleared out leaving Mike to take the brunt of the punishment.

Felix was in LA and available so he took the first flight he could get on to Hawaii, where Mike would pick him up at the airport and discuss their future business arraignment. Mike knew better than most that Felix was dangerous, so he spent the time waiting for the plane to procure himself a side-arm, there was no way in hell he was meeting that man unarmed, he might consider him a friend but Mike Watson was in no way stupid.

Watson made it to the airport just as the arrival board switched to show that Felix's plane had arrived. He stayed in the background, knowing that security at the airport would be looking for him and motioned to Felix to follow him away from the all-seeing cameras that were prolific at the airport and surrounding area. He silently prayed that he had made it in and out without being seen.

Soon the two men were sitting at a beach side cafe catching up and making general small talk before they got down to business. Finally it was Felix who brought up the reason for his unexpected trip to Hawaii.

"What do you got for me, Mike?"

"Do you know the name Timothy McGee?"  
"Son of a Navy Admiral, caused the Afghanis some problems about a year ago, has a nice little price on his head but the people who put it there just want information on him so they can handle the problem themselves. He's a federal officer so the risk isn't worth the reward of trying to get to him in DC. He's always surrounded by people who would lay down their own lives to protect him, not interested in going to Gitmo."

"He's here in Hawaii."  
"Are you sure?"  
"Yeah, he took a interest in my little girl while I was away. I might have gotten a little intoxicated the other night and paid her a visit. She got freaked out and call him and he was on the next plane here."  
As embarrassed as Mike was about his behavior he knew well enough not to leave out any details with the man he was hoping to handle to situation, he didn't relish a bullet in the brain.

"What kind of protection detail does he have with him?"  
"From what I saw only the Five-O Task Force."  
Felix sat silently for a few minutes processing the information he had just received, "Let me make a few phone calls, there's a nice finder's fee available on this one, we'll split 75/25 since you get some personal satisfaction with his removal."  
Mike just smiled, he wasn't going to try and negotiate with the man, truth be told the money would be a bonus in his mind.

Felix handed Mike a burn phone, "Stay out of sight, I'll contact you when I have the arraignments made and Mike, stay off the booze."

Felix threw a couple of bills on the table to pay for the meal they had just eaten and walked away with a backwards glance.

Tim was dreading the landing of the military transport as much as he was excited to see his friends arrive, the idea of having Gibbs and McGarrett on the same continent much less the same car was making his stomach tie up in knots. To say that the two men hated each other was the understatement of the year. What he wasn't expecting was the scowl that was on Tony's face and the dark looks he was sending the team leaders way.

Tony hurried across the tarmac and was by Tim's side before anyone could even greet and introduce the arriving team, "What are you doing out in the open?" The older man hissed at his partner, grabbing his arm and steering him to the waiting car.

Tim pulled away from his friend and searched out the team leader for himself, "You told them.", he couldn't hide the accusation in his voice.

"No choice, Tim. Vance's orders."  
Tony turned angrily on his partner, "YOU should have told us as soon as you got back from that desert hellhole."  
"Tony, this is not the time or place to have this discussion." Tim said desperately trying to keep the peace.

"When would you have told us, Tim? When you showed up late for work one day and we found your head separated from your body in your apartment. We're partners, you don't hide this kind of shit from one another."

It was Gibbs that responded to the man's rampage, "Tony, it was classified."  
Tony looked at the team leader like he had a lot more that he wanted to say, but just shook his head and continued to walk to the vehicles that were waiting to take the team from the Navy base.

Tim turned an embarrassed smile to the two teams and quickly introduced them. Everyone shook hands except Gibbs and McGarrett, they just glared at each other.

While the riding arraignments were made Steve quickly caught the Five-O team up on the fact that Tim had a price on his head and why. The three members of the task force were unhappy at being left out of the loop, but they had worked with Steve long enough to understand that there were somethings he couldn't disclose.

Finally everyone was settled into the two vehicle, Chin, Kono, Ellie and Tony in the lead car. Steve, Gibbs, Danny and Tim following closely behind. They hadn't even entered the car when the battle of wills between the two team leaders began, Gibbs walked to the driver's side of the vehicle. "You know where we're going, Gibbs?" Steve asked sarcastically.

Gibbs just glared at the man and walked around to the other side.

Tim sat behind Gibbs on the passenger side and Danny sat behind Steve, both trying their best to avoid being dragged into the barely civil conversation taking place in the front seat.

"Where is Sandy?", Gibbs asked clearly questioning the capabilities of the Five-O unit.

"She's at my house with HPD units outside and Jethro with her."  
"Why isn't she at a safe house?"  
Danny inhale deeply at the venom behind the question getting ready to defend his leader, but Tim gently placed a hand on his arm and shook his head once he had his attention. Danny was quickly developing a dislike for the man.

"My house IS a safe house."

"So I'm to assume that's where you expect us to keep Tim?"  
"YES", Steve was feeling like he was being interrogated by the other man and he didn't like it, "I know how to provide someone with ample protection, and I'm not arrogant enough to believe that I can do it without backup. That's why HPD was involved since the beginning of the situation, and I also allowed your team to be brought on."  
The obvious dig at the other man hit the mark.

"You ALLOWED, like you could have stopped me, once the threat was made."  
Steve stopped the car and pulled over to face the other man, his anger making him forget that their other members of their teams were in a car in front of them and might not immediately notice that they had pulled off.

"Yes, I allowed you, we work as a team and if you can't work that way I'll just throw your ass off my island!"  
"Tim belongs to me and I protect what is mine.", Gibbs said softly with a glare.

"I don't seem to remember you doing a very good job of it last year."  
"I want Tim and Sandy brought to an official safe house."

Tim had been growing more and more angry with the conversation, the two men were acting like he was helpless and that they both had some measure of ownership over him.

"ENOUGH!", he yelled from the back seat glaring at both of the men. "I'm a trained federal agent, more than capable of taking care of myself and my sister. I will NOT be the rope in your game of tug of war."

Danny was impressed that the quite young man would stand up for himself and become hard as granite if necessary. At the moment Tim looked more imposing than either man in the front seat.

The two men in front glared at each other but neither one said another word as Steve put the car in gear and returned to the road.

About ten minutes of silent driving later they were passing a local beach side market area, the had several restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating. Tim was still staring out the window when Steve stopped the car at a red light.

The anger Tim had been feeling toward the two team leaders came to a head when he recognized Mike Watson sitting at one of the tables another man putting money on the table and walking away. He opened the door without saying anything and pulled out his weapon. The three men in the car were completely caught off guard by his sudden exit. Steve frantically looked for a place to park so they could follow the younger man.

"Freeze, federal agents!" Tim yelled approaching the other man, seeing that the other men had exited the vehicle and were only a few yards behind him.

No one was prepared when Watson pulled a hand gun out from under his coat, Tim was fast enough to get off two rounds to the man's chest, by not fast enough to avoid the sudden pain in his shoulder. As he went down he heard the worried shouts from the two team leaders, and Danny calling for an ambulance. Then the darkness claimed him and he heard nothing else.

AN: If Tim seems at little OC it's will become clear in the next few chapters, remember earlier I hinted about him being able to control and focus his temper, you will see more of that. As always please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	9. Chapter 9

Tim slowly began to rise out of the darkness into consciousness, the first thing to return was hearing, some of the voices around him were speaking broken English, some a language he did not recognize, they all sounded very excited about something. The next thing he felt was the sensation of being chocked, he could breath, something was around/in his throat. 'I'm in Afghanistan!', he thought desperately trying to fight his way free. He felt several hands grab his arms and force them down, he continued to fight with the little strength he had, he couldn't give up, he had to give Gibbs, the Seals and the civilians time to escape. He felt a prick in his arm and darkness once again descended upon him.

Tony and Chin were the first to arrive at the hospital having dropped off Kono and Ellie at Steve's house to protect and keep Sandy calm, and were pacing in the waiting room when the ER Doctor appeared and call "Timothy McGee."  
"That's us." Chin responded showing his Five-O badge which immediately gained the full cooperation of the staff.

The doctor moved to the side of the room to talk to the two men, when Steve, Danny and Gibbs came rushing in, having finally handed over the crime scene to HPD, and joined the group.

Introductions were made and the Doctor continued with the update, "Mr. McGee is very lucky, the shot was a through and through, but it nicked an artery so blood loss is our main concern. Also,at on point he began to regain consciousness, but immediately began fighting the staff and trying to remove the breathing tube, so for his own safety we were forced to sedate and restrain him."  
"Shit." was Gibbs' response.

"NO" Steve was a little more forceful. "Tim was captured and tortured a year ago, he CANNOT be restrained."

"Unless someone can guarantee that they can keep him calm while we treat his injuries I'm afraid that we have no choice in the matter.", the Doctor said his voice full of regret.

"I'll stay with him.", both team leaders said at the same time.

Danny and Tony prepared for the battle that they were sure was about to take place, but they ended up waiting in vain. With the well-being of the man they both cared about hanging in the balance the men seemed able to put aside their differences and concentrate on making sure Tim got the care he needed.

The two men looked at each other and nodded in agreement that Tim would come first, "Take us back to him, we'll keep him calm.", Steve answered the man.

The two men followed the Doctor to the back into the treatment area, to the trauma room that held Tim. Gibbs clinched his teeth so tightly upon seeing the young man that his jaw turned white and Steve began to curse softly under his breath. They walked to either side of the bed and started to remove the restraints that was holding the young man to the bed. The doctors worked around the two men monitoring the IV which was supplying the life saving fluid and they began to clean the ugly wound to the man's shoulder. All while the Doctor's worked the two men men whispered softly trying to convey to the young man that he was safe. Neither man would say the words out loud but they both hoped that before he would be taken into surgery to repair the damage to his shoulder that he would open his eyes. Right before the Doctor's were ready to roll him out they got their wish, Tim eyes fluttered open. When he saw the two men on either side of him he began to shake his head and his eyes filled with tears. Those beautiful green eyes that were so easy to read passed along one message, "WHY?", then they closed again and the staff wheeled him into surgery.

Tim began the long fight out of the darkness once again determined that this time he would succeed, he could hear voices he recognized but his mind told him they shouldn't be here. He was in the insurgent's camp, where they were preparing to torture him on live TV to motivate their brothers to keep fighting against American capitalism. He was here so the men whose voice's he was hearing could safely get out of harm's way. They shouldn't be here, they shouldn't be here. He fought harder and harder against the darkness knowing that more pain would be at the end of his fight but unwilling to let the terrorist who had him win by simply giving up, he was an Admiral's son, he was a federal agent, and he had been handpicked to be on the best team at NCIS. He would not go down without a fight. He opened his eyes and on either side of the bed were the two men he had planned to sacrifice himself to keep safe were there, he shook his head no and as tears filled his eyes he closed them no longer having the strength to continue the fight.

Felix Stein heard the yells behind him and then the gunfire, he kept walking. "One less loose end he thought to himself'. He checked into the hotel he had made reservations at, and turned on the local news. He smiled to himself when the reporter told of the afternoon shootout near the beach and reported the death of a civilian and the injury of a federal agent that was now in critical condition. She was even nice enough to provide him with the hospital he was being treated. Some jobs were so easy he almost felt guilty for taking the money he was paid to do them. Almost.

Stein had recognized the voice that had identified himself as a federal agent, it was a voice he had heard a year ago, on the other side of the world screaming in pain. If it wouldn't be financially beneficial for him to make the call and report the man's whereabouts to others that also wanted him eliminated he would do it himself just to be sure he couldn't be connected to the terrorist that had held the young man. However a million dollar finder's fee was just too big of a pay off. He sat on the bed and made the call.

AN: Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to get this out there and let my readers know that the next update won't be until Thursday or Friday of next week. The real world decided to poke it's nose into my fantasy one. Family coming to visit. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	10. Chapter 10

The truce between the two men lasted until they reached the waiting room.

"Tim was tortured?", Gibbs growled, "Were you ever going to tell me?"  
Steve rolled his eyes, "You were suspected of treason, at the time we rescued him, I don't keep suspects informed of developments of a case."

"He is my agent! I had every right to know, especially after you bozos cleared my name and released me."  
"By the time you were released I wasn't even in the country anymore, I was chasing down Hesse. You know world class arms dealer, kinda busy at the time. Sooooooooo sorry I didn't drop everything to give you a debriefing."

"What about during the last year, it never occurred to you to pick up a phone?"

"Would you have answered my call, cause I know I wouldn't have picked up if you called me. If you want to find out why you were never told the details ask YOUR director, not me."

With that Steve looked around and realized that they had gathered a bit of an audience, so with one final glare at the other man he stormed out of the waiting room.

Tony looked over at his boss who was staring daggers at the door the other man had left through and followed the man outside, he wanted answers and Steve seemed like the most likely source of that information.

"Steve!", he hollered to slow the man down.

"What you want to blame me for what happened too?"  
"No, I just want answers."  
"I'm not hearing any questions?", Steve realized the he had let his temper get the better of him, "I'm sorry, man, just a little stressed out."  
"I think that is an understatement for all of us."  
"So how in the hell did my Probie end up on the Taliban's most wanted list."  
"I thought Gibbs read you in?"

"More than one side to any story, and if I'm going to be of any use to Tim, I need to know all versions."

Steve got real quite, and if Danny would have been anywhere near he would have informed Tony that he was making his aneurysm face, "When Tim introduced himself at the school, I thought there was no way he was one of THE McGee's, hell that family is Navy Royalty. If one of the McGee's were in country much less in hostile territory, the whole area would have been on high alert. A few minutes into the evacuation we lost all communication, when my comms officer report that we had been cut off, Tim got this annoyed look and growl 'Give that to me' and the person that we had assumed was going to be the weak link turned hard as nails."

Steve smiled to himself as he remembered the look on the faces of the Seal Team when Tim grabbed the communication laptop.

"He started mumbling about being tired, needing a shower, and cursing the places that sand could get into that it shouldn't, next thing we know our communication is back up, but he didn't stop there. He tracked the jamming signal back to the source and then he hacked into their signal. Soon the hummer was filled with insurgent radio chatter. My linguist translated and we found out who Tim was and that the insurgents following us, already knew. Worst yet two ground to ground missiles had been launched at our caravan. Tim didn't blink an eye, he overrode the guidance system in the missiles and turned them back on the groups that had fired them. Unfortunately, this got the attention of even more nearby clans, and soon we were being hunted by every group in the area."  
"He was amazing, my computer tech just sat back opened mouth at his abilities on the computer, my main concern at that point was to find a way to get him out of the hostile territory, but he got real stubborn insisting that the civilians were the priority. He knew he was a high value target, but he didn't care, I realized I had gravely misjudged him when we met."  
"Once we got back online I began trying to figure out how the insurgents had found out who he was and were he was, the answer seemed obvious, Gibbs had brought him in and was one of the only people who knew his identity. Tim had convinced us to use him as bait to get the civilians out of harm's way and was working on using our cell phones to build a very rudimentary tracking device. We had choppers coming in to get us out, we only had to hold on for about thirty minutes. The plan was simple Tim would allow the insurgents to capture him and we'd use the distraction to get the civilians out and arrest Gibbs. Tim had other ideas, after he was captured we found a message he had left on the computer, telling us to all evacuate and not come after him. He had found out that some of the groups trailing us had antiaircraft missiles and he was worried that once we had gotten him back they would take down the choppers, he didn't want to be responsible for any of our deaths, he planned on sacrificing himself. He turned off the damned tracing device."  
"Instead of those bastards never even getting to camp with him before we got to him, they had him for almost an hour. By the time we got him back he was badly beaten and heavily drugged, the only reason he suffered no permanent damage was because they were waiting to get the internet situated to broadcast his murder live. I'll never forget the look on his face when he woke up at the base hospital for the first time after his rescue, the look in those eyes was one..." Steve suddenly went quite, he knew the look he had just gotten from the young man, it was the same one he received a year ago, worry not for himself but for those around him.

Steve turned on his heel at a full run and returned to the waiting room of the hospital, "Tim was having a flashback to Afghanistan that's why he was fighting the staff. Something he saw this afternoon must have triggered it." He turned to Danny and Chin, "Get every piece of surveillance from the area surrounding the trip we took from Pearl to the sight of the shooting, I want to see everything Tim saw all day."  
Gibbs looked at Steve with a slight measure of respect, it was a connection he should have made but he was to preoccupied with thoughts of Tim to let his mind try to figure out the reasons why he had fought off the staff trying to help him. Gibbs turned to look longingly to the doors where they had taken Tim, wanting nothing more than to comfort the younger man and convince him that everything would be okay. Steve saw the look and suddenly realized who had the small but tight grip on Tim's heart, and his blood boiled. He was willing to allow Tim to follow his heart to almost anyone but the man who had deliberately endangered his life. Once Tim was better he would start his pursuit of the young man in earnest.

AN:I'm back, thanks so much for all the reviews, favorites and follows. This is about to heat up a little. Please review with all your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	11. Chapter 11

Felix Stein was angry. He had spent the last few hours making several calls a group of people who he had no desire to be connected to, only to discover that they had no way to financially pay what they had promised. Apparently the virus that Agent McGee had used to damage the communications of the group also allowed the military and other government agencies to track their activities and throw significant monkey wrenches into their plans. This included asset forfeiture, so after risking everything to contact them, they couldn't pay him if they wanted to, which he doubted they ever planned to if the information was given to them.

He pace back and forth in his hotel room while he worked on his next course of action. He could return to LA and hope that his activities during the last twenty-four hours went unnoticed, but because of Watson's death at the hands of McGee there was sure to be an investigation into the man's business, which included phone calls to Stein and a face to face meeting just minutes before his death. Stein had no doubt that if anyone looked too closely into his past that his involvement in gun running in the Middle East would come to light, and the comfortable existence he now had would be over. Agent Timothy McGee was a loose end that would haunt him until the end of his days, he should have put a bullet in him a year ago when he had a chance in the desert but he had decided that a quick clean exit was the most beneficial to his plans at the time. Now he realized the man was the only person in the western hemisphere that could place him at that camp and he was now going to be front and center in the investigation into Watson. His window of opportunity for damage control was very small.

The evil glint that appeared in Stein's eyes told a lot about the true nature of the man, he grabbed the burn phone he always carried as a precaution and dialed a local number.

"I need C-4."

Steve stood very still in the waiting room studying the enemy, Gibbs, because now that he knew who the competition was for Tim's heart it was the only way he could view the other man.

Tony sat in the uncomfortable plastic chair that lined the wall of the waiting room watching the other two occupants with growing concern. He was a police officer and he was well versed in reading body language, especially after spending more than ten years working for a man who could say more with a single glance than he would with words in a month. What had him worried wasn't the fact that the two men waiting with him both appeared to be interested in a man, it was the fact that they were both interested in the same man. It wasn't long before his tired over stressed mind did what it always did when faced with a problem that he couldn't do anything about at the moment, he turned it into a movie. Batman vs Superman, he grinned to himself, nope he couldn't see either man in tights. Freddie vs Jason, nope that wasn't right either while both men could probably outdo the kill counts of those movies they just weren't the movie monster type. His movie comparisons ended when he saw Gibbs start to gravitate to the place where Steve was standing and he decided he needed to prevent another blow out between the two men before they would be asked to leave the hospital or one or both of the men would end up has patients here.

"Boss, why don't we see if we can find some decent coffee?", he said getting the older man's attention.

Gibbs had been getting ready to confront Steve on his true intentions towards the man in surgery when Tony got up and walked over to him. He decided that a hospital waiting room probably wasn't the best place to out his young agent, so he agreed to go for a walk with Tony and find a cup of coffee in the process. He had to get a handle on his emotions because deep in his gut he knew that decisions were getting ready to be made that would affect not only his personal life but also, more than likely the make up of his team. He wasn't sure if he was ready to make a commitment to Tim and cause the team's dynamic to be changed in the process. Hell, he was even really sure what he was feeling for the young agent, he knew he had been attracted to him since the first day in Norfolk, but he wasn't willing to risk either of their careers for that attraction. Was he willing to now? He had three failed marriages to prove that he should not make decisions in his personal life based on gut reactions, no matter how well they worked on a professional level. But if he wasn't willing to make that commitment should he stop Tim from finding happiness elsewhere? Damn, he really needed that cup of coffee. He got up and nodded to his Senior Field Agent and they exited the waiting room.

Steve had been watching the interaction between the other two men in the waiting room and had been expecting one or the other to confront him on his feelings for the younger man. Steve had known since their time in the base hospital in the desert how he felt for Tim and only put a hold on any type of relationship with because he could sense there was some unresolved emotions towards someone else. Had he known at the time who those emotions were for he would have done everything in his power to make Tim forget that they ever existed. He knew that even though he had a bit of a reputation that he would never deliberately string anyone along so he had ended his emotional involvement with Catherine upon returning to Hawaii, that had not lasted however because he had used the woman has a balm on his battered heart when the truth of the matter hit him, he was in love with a man who lived half way around the world and had feelings, however deeply buried, for another man. Now that Tim had arrived in Hawaii everything had changed, he knew who Tim carried a torch for and he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that that man could never love Tim the way he deserved to be loved. Sitting in the hospital waiting room Steve had an epiphany, before Tim left Hawaii he would tell the young man how he felt and if he still followed Gibbs back to Washington he would bury his feeling for the younger man so deep that they would never be unearth again.

AN: Sorry about the long delay but my world truly got turned upside down. My husband got a job offer 800 miles away and we have just over 30 days to get there. I will try to continue to update but I probably won't be able make regular updates again until the second week of August, if everything goes as planned. I will not abandon this story so please keep the reviews coming they remind me that at some point my life will return to normal. Stray :/


	12. Chapter 12

Danny and Chin were at the Palace going through the mounds of video surveillance they had requested in the car on the ride back to headquarters. The tapes had started to roll in before the had even reached the office and the task assigned to them by their team leader was daunting. Finally the tape they had been most interested in arrived, the tape that had the actual shooting on it. Danny had cued it up to the shooting and noticed that the table had the remains of a meal for two indicating that Watson had not been alone. Chin quickly reset the tape up twenty minutes before the shooting and they once again watched. It wasn't long before they had a clear head-shot of the man Watson had been eating with, and was sending the picture through there facial recognition program, once they had a name Danny decided to bring Steve up to speed with their activities while Chin ran a back ground check on the man.

"McGarrett" Steve answered his phone on the first ring.

"Watson was eating a meal with a man named Felix Stein right before the shoot out with McGee.", Danny wasted no time filling his boss in on the particulars.

"I know that name, it came up several times when I was chasing the Hesse brothers through the Middle East. We could never pin anything on him however, he was always real careful not to leave any evidence behind."  
"Do you think this has anything to do with the price McGee has on his head?"

"Don't know, see if you can find a connection between him and Watson the predates the meal they had together today. Also try to find out where he was last year when we were in the desert."  
"So do you think this is personal or professional between McGee and Stein or is this just an unfortunate coincidence and this had nothing to do with McGee?"

"Don't know, get Kono and Bishop from McGee's team to help you, have them drop off Sandy at the hospital and I'll keep and eye on her while you investigate."

Steve was just hanging up the phone when Gibbs and Tony entered the waiting room from one side and McGee's doctor entered from the other. Steve ignored the two agents and walked up to the doctor for an update on the younger man's condition.

"Commander." the doctor greeted him and looked at the other two men in the room waiting for an introduction.

"Agents Gibbs and DiNozzo from NCIS in Washington, they are part of Agent McGee's team." Steve said grudgingly.

The doctor nodded and made a mental note of the tension between the men so he could monitor their behavior around his patient and prevent any negative influences on his recovery.

"Agent McGee made it through surgery with flying colors and will be in the recovery ward for about an hour before he will be moved to a regular room on the second floor, barring an infection setting in he should be released in four or five days, he will need extensive physical therapy to regain full use of his right arm, but if he is willing to put in the work I see no reason that he shouldn't have a full recovery."  
All three men let out a sigh of relief at the news.

"When can I see him?", both team leaders asked at the same time.

The doctor smiled and shook his head at the men. He made another mental note to warn the nurses on the surgery recovery ward of the probable battle of wills between the two men for the right to oversee the recovery of Agent McGee.

"No one will be able to see him till we move him to his room so I'd advise you to grab something to eat and met back here in an hour. I'll have a nurse waiting to escort you to his room then."  
"Doctor", Steve called out as the man started to walk away, "We will need to have someone in recovery with him as a protection detail."  
The doctor turned a concerned look at the man clearly wanting him to continue.  
"I just received word that the man who wounded Agent McGee was having lunch with a suspected arms dealer and he might come back to finish the job his friend began."  
"Fine send someone from HPD and I'll have worked out an arrangement with hospital security while he is in recovery..."

"No offense Doctor" Gibbs interrupted "I would feel better with on of my agents on the door."  
"And I don't want to risk a shoot out in my hospital, if someone is looking for your agent having a mainlander watching my recovery room is a clear indication of where he is and makes every patient recovering in that room a potential target. I will not allow that."  
The doctor then turned to Steve, "The identity of the Five-O officers is also well known on the island and would cause the same risk, so if you insist on having a protection detail while he is in recovery then I must insist it be HPD. Once he is in a private room then you may take any security measures you see fit."

The doctor had reached the end of his patience with the two men, "I will also inform all of you right now that Agent McGee's recovery is my primary concern, any behavior from anyone that disrupts that will result in all parties being escorted out of the hospital. Do I make myself clear?"

Gibbs saw red at the dressing-down from the doctor, but before he could voice his displeasure with the medical professional both Steve and Tony put a hand on either shoulder to calm the man down.

"We understand, Agent McGee is important to all of us and we will do nothing to disrupt his care here." Tony said to the doctor hoping to get the two men outside where he could try to defuse the situation.

Gibbs glared at all three men, turned on his heel and exited through the door that he had just come from leaving once again.

Steve was getting ready to follow the man out when he reentered with Sandy on his arm. Steve continued on the path he was on and greeted the young woman.

"Sandy, how are you holding up?" he asked his voice full of concern.

Sandy took a hesitant breathe and voiced her major concern, "Is my father really dead?"

"I'm afraid so, he drew on Tim and he had no alternative but to return fired."  
Sandy reached for Steve and whispered, "Am I a bad person if the only thing a feel is relief?"  
"No Sandy, it makes you human." was the immediate response.

"How is Tim?", she asked

"He made it through surgery and should be fine, we will be able to see him in a little while.", Tony answered, trying to get the girl away from the two men and out of the line of fire, in their war over his partner.

Once he had her arm, he started leading her out of the waiting room, "Let's go get you something to eat while we wait."  
As he walked he to the door he turned his head over his shoulder and mouthed the words "Figure it out", to the two team leaders left standing alone in the room. 

AN: Surprise I managed to update amid boxes and chaos, please review with all your thoughts and comments and I will try not to get lost in the boxes that have now replaced my living room ( no promises) I will update as soon as possible :) stray


	13. Chapter 13

Stein spent the first day after the shooting monitoring the local news stations for information which had quickly dried up after the initial report on the shooting, letting him know that he had been made at the crime scene. He also spent a large portion of his time building up dossiers on the key players involved from NCIS and the Five-O unit. Almost exactly twenty-four hours after he had walked away from the table where he had lunch with Watson, he was once again having a clandestine meeting with a local weapons dealer he knew to get the C-4 he had requested.

"You have the package?", he asked, 'accidentally' letting his jacket open to show the butt of the gun he had hidden in his waistband.

"Yes, however, Wo Fat has become aware of your activities and made it clear that you should be told to clean up this mess however you want, but McGarrett is to remain untouched."

With the warning clearly given the two men finished their meal cordially leaving a nice tip for their waitress and only someone paying very close attention would have noticed that when they left they had exchanged briefcases.

Stein returned to his hotel room and checked out, only to check into another hotel under an alias to continue his reconnaissance of the group seething to himself about the no touch order he had been given. That order was going to make eliminating Timothy McGee much more difficult.

Tim slowly began to feel the darkness around him recede. The first thing he recognized was a steady beeping that gave him the first clue to his location, the second was the small hand that was intertwined with his, easily identified by the calluses on the finger tips, Sandy.

He continued the fight to the surface and finally opened his eyes, "Sandy?" The simple word came out hoarse and sounded weak even to his own ears.

"I'm here, Timmy" the young woman responded and was in his line of sight immediately following the words.

"Who else?"

Sandy didn't get a chance to answer before the door opened , "Probie, your eyes do open." Tony exclaimed seeing that Tim was awake.

"Hey, Tony." Tim whispered trying to hide the gravelly sound of his voice.

Tony walked to the other side of the bed and held out a glass with water, ice chips and a bendy straw for Tim to take a sip, "This should help."

Tim tried to sit up and a groan escaped his lips and the world started to spin. Tony quickly put the cup down and softly tapped him on the back of the head causing the room to spin even more, "There's a button on the side of you for a reason, and I always thought you were the smart one McDufus."

Tony adjusted the bed to a sitting position and then once again held out the cup to his young partner.

Tim gratefully accepted the cup and took several small sips, finally feeling a little better he turned to the older man, "What did I miss?"

"Not much, just the opening sequence to Alien vs Predator 3 in the waiting room while you were in surgery."  
Tim looked at the man confused while Sandy desperately tried to hid her laughter at the comment. Finally Tim's sluggish brain caught up to the conversation and he started to blush as he mumbled, "Gibbs and Steve?"

"Right in one, mi amigo, and Probie you got some splaining to do." Tony said in his best Ricky Ricardo accent.

Tim gave a pointed look to Sandy as he said, "Not now, Tony."

Sandy picked up on the sudden unease in the room, "That's my cue to go get something to drink and inform the other that you are awake. Love you, Tim."

Tim started to sit up again only to stop when he noticed Tony's hand once again going to the back of his head, "Sandy, do you have someone to guide you?" He asked brotherly concern filling his voice.

"Ellie and Kono have been by my side constantly since this began. One of them won't be far away and will help me get down to the snack shop."

Tony saw the concern in his partners eyes and got up to guide Sandy to the door, "I'll make sure she's in safe hands and then I'll be right back."

Sandy raised her arm for Tony to hold it to guide her and let him maneuver her out the door.

Once they had started down the hall she said softly, "If you really want answers from him wait until the next dose of pain medications kick in, he becomes very talkative on them. That's why he never lets the team know when he's injured. He's afraid he'll let something slip."

That said she removed her arm from Tony's grip and walked straight to the waiting room were the remainder of the two teams were sitting.

"Tim finally woke up.", she announced to the group and smiled as she heard several sighs of relief from them.

Putting her match-making plan into motion she found her way to Gibbs, "Would you mind bringing me to the snack shop to get something to drink?"

Gibbs graciously offered her his arm and proceeded to the snack shop while everyone else went to Tim's room to verify with their own eyes the he was awake and aware.

Sandy had overheard enough of the doctor's conversations about her brother to have a good idea when the next dose of medications would be administered through the IV, so she knew exactly when she would have to have Gibbs back outside the room to hear her brother's confession even if it was only to Tony. Sandy didn't dislike the older man, but she didn't think the man would provide a healthy relationship for him, in fact she was very aware of the heartache he had already unknowingly heaped upon him.

When Sandy and Gibbs returned to Tim's room they were met by everyone else as they were leaving after a short visit. Tony was once again alone in the room with Tim and neither man notice the door open slightly or realize their conversation was now being heard by the two people in the hallway.

"So McLoverboy, Gibbs and McGarrett?" Tony asked.

"It's not like that.", Tim's voice was slightly slurred from the medications being sent to his system.

"Well why don't you explain? How long have you been crushing on Bossman?"

"Since Norfolk, he don't know and he don't care",Tim said sounding crushed.

"Every time I foolishly let myself think that there might be something there he makes it perfectly clear that I'm just his computer geek. I really loved him for a long time, Tony. That's why I was willing sacrifice myself in Afghanistan last year. If I couldn't have him, I was more than willing to give my life to make sure he got out of there. But I messed that up too and now I don't know..." Tim was starting to fade out.

"Tim, what about McGarrett?"

Tim gave Tony a soft, goofy grin, "I think I could have a future with him." That said Tim drifted off into medicated slumber.

Gibbs stayed in the hallway for a second after the conversation ended too stunned to move. Finally his brain began to send signals to his body again and he turned and walked away from the door.

AN : Well I'm all packed and just waiting for next Monday to roll around. Hoped you are enjoying Tony's movie references and if you have any ideas for more just let me know I've about used up all of my ? Vs ? Movie knowledge. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Next update should be Friday or Saturday night. :) stray


	14. Chapter 14

Tony sat with Tim watching him sleep, thinking about the conversation he had just had with his young partner, ' I really loved him for a long time, Tony.', the pain in the younger man's voice when he made that particular statement told Tony so much. He was sure the younger man still had feelings for their boss, but he also knew that the older man was on the verge of destroying any future that they may have

had together. This brought Tony to the heart of the issue he was facing, no matter the decision the two men made about their future, Tony's world was about to change and Tony didn't deal well with change. The longer the man sat in the room waiting for the older man to show up to check on Tim the angrier he became with him, when he stuck his head out the door and saw Sandy sitting by herself outside the room his temper exploded , "Where's Gibbs?"  
"He heard what Tim told you and left without saying anything." Sandy said bluntly.

"You've been out here by yourself since?"

"Tony, the door was cracked open and I was two steps from the door. I knew where I was . I don't need a constant babysitter watching me all the time, I'm blind not helpless."  
"Tell that to Tim when he wakes up."Tony said reaching for her arm and guiding her into the room.

Once the door closed he turned to her, "Why did you set us up?"

"I don't have a problem with Gibbs has a person in general, I do have serious issue with him continually hurting Tim. Either he knows how Tim feel's about him and has been playing with his emotions or he is so blind that he doesn't deserve to have the love of such a wonderful person." Sandy said without remorse to the chaos she had caused by having Gibbs overhear Tim confession.

Tony wanted to defend his boss, but he couldn't based on the information he had at this point in time, until he spoke with Gibbs and had a frank conversation about the situation he wasn't willing to jump to any conclusion.

"So does this mean you are firmly in Steve's corner?"

"I'm not sure if Steve is Tim's happily ever after but I do think he can offer Tim a better future than Gibbs."  
"Isn't it my choice?", a weak voice from the bed interrupted their conversation.

"Tim, how long have you been awake?" Sandy asked concerned about exactly how much of the conversation he had overheard.

"Enough." the one word may have been soft but it was full of emotion.

"Tony, go find a doctor I need to get out of here and find Gibbs.", he said trying to get up, removing the IV in his arm.

Tony breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the door to the room open, thinking that one of the nurses had arrived to help him convince his young friend to return to bed, but the relief was short lived when the person who entered spoke. "McGee!"

All three people turned to face the person who had just spoken, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, staring at them with the glare he usually reserved for criminals who committed crimes against children.

Tim eased back against the pillows, letting out a ragged, pain-filled breath, "Boss?"

Gibbs continued to glare at the younger man noticing the discomfort he was in from his injuries as well as the blood coming from the back of his hand where the IV was ripped out, "What do you think your doing?"  
Tim was coherent enough to recognized the anger in the man's voice but still under the influence of the medications that he was not as guarded as usual with his statements. "Had to find you, we needed to talk."

"Phone still works McGee?"

Gibbs continued to the bed and pulled the blanket up to tuck the younger man in and push the call button so a nurse could come in and reinsert the IV.

As Gibbs got closer to the bed, Tim could smell the distinct odor of bourbon coming off the man and the slightly unbalanced steps he was taking make it clear that the older man was slightly intoxicated. Guilt overwhelmed the injured man because he knew his earlier conversation with Tony was the cause of the bout of drinking.

"Tony, could you please escort Sandy home so she can get so rest?", Tim asked his partner, clearly letting him know that he wanted to speak to Gibbs alone.

Tony nodded, "Okay get your bag, Sandy. Time to go."

While Sandy was gathering up her belongings he opened the door to the room only to be startled by the nurse that was entering, "His IV accidentally came out.", Tony lied, daring anyone in the room to correct him with a glance, no one did.

When Sandy passed Gibbs she softly threatened him, "Don't even think of hurting him again."

The nurse quickly took in the situation and made a mental note to call Commander McGarrett as soon as she got back to her desk since he had asked her to keep him advised of any problems with the patient's care.

Tony called Ellie to come pick up Sandy while he was walking her through the corridors of the hospital not willing to leave the two men, both heavily intoxicated, alone for very long. When Sandy tried to insist on staying as well Tony gave her a soft shake as he turned her to face him, "No, I think you have done enough damage for one day." He kept a firm grip on her arm as they walked to the hospital entrance to wait for her ride.

Tim looked hard at the man who was sitting on the bed next to him, wanting to tell him so much but not knowing where to begin. He was brought out of his thoughts by the slightly slurred words, "What do you want from me, Tim?"  
"Nothing Boss, I know you don't feel the same way about me that I do towards you..."  
"And if I do?", the older man stopped him.

"Then I would like you to give us a chance."  
"I'm a bastard six days out of seven."  
"No, you are a caring man that has seen too much pain."

"I destroy people who care about me, I HURT them."  
"I don't believe that."  
"So this is what you want.", Gibbs leaned into the the prone man and pinned his upper body and good arm under his weight.

Tim understood immediately what the older man was trying to do and began to fight back with the only weapon available to him, words.

"No Boss, please stop, don't do this..." any further protest were quashed when Gibbs roughly took the younger man's mouth in a kiss and forced it open.

Both men on the bed jumped when the door to the hospital room banged open and Steve, Danny, Tony and Chin rushed inside.

AN: Please, please, please review. Next update will be late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning.

Boy did I leave myself a huge mess to clean up. ;) stray


	15. Chapter 15

Tony was caught off guard as he waited in front of the hospital with Sandy for her ride to arrive, by the sudden appearance of the Five-O team, as well as Ellie.

"Has something else happened?" concern filled his voice.

"Where's your boss?" Steve answered his question with one of his own.

"With McGee." when the sudden flash of anger appeared on the Seal's face, Tony's stomach dropped hard "Why?" was the hesitant question.

Steve looked straight through Tony to Sandy, "I'm not in the mood for any bullshit, yes or no, has he in any way hurt Tim?"  
Both of the people in question really wanted to say no, but their faces had already given away the true answer to that question. Gibbs had repeatedly dragged Tim through the mill emotionally, so neither said anything.

When Steve saw the answer to his question fly across their faces it took every ounce of control that he had learn to keep from flying into the hospital and hunting down the other man. Instead he turned to the two female agents present, "Take Sandy to my house and don't leave her side until someone from Five-O gets there."

He then turned to Tony, "Is there going to be a problem?"

Tony looked him straight in the eyes so the man could see the truth in his words, not only letting Steve know where he stood with Gibbs but also warning him about his actions in the future, "I trust Gibbs with my life and I don't believe he would ever intentionally hurt someone on the team, but Tim is my Probie and I will kick the ass of anyone who sets out to hurt him."

Steve gave the man a hard glare and then nodded in understanding. The four men present turned to watch the three women leave not moving until they were safely on the road to Steve's house, then they turned as one and headed into the hospital.

They were walking down the quite hallway when they heard a muffled conversation coming from Tim's room, not wanting to eavesdrop, if not necessary they paused a little way from the door.

They froze in disbelief when they heard Tim's forceful plea to his boss, "No boss, please stop, don't do this..." The muffled noises that followed got Steve moving to the door with the others hot on his heels.

Steve was overwhelmed by two emotions when he opened the door fear and anger. He reacted on pure instinct when he grabbed Gibbs and threw he half way across the room at the other men and turned to check on Tim's condition.

There were dark red fingerprints on Tim's cheeks showing how hard the other man had grabbed his face to force his mouth open but the thing that sent Steve's protective instincts int overdrive was the blood dripping from a small cut on his bottom lip, evidence of the brutality of the kiss they had witnessed. Tim's eyes were closed, but the soft gasps that continued to come from the man told of the pain he was in from having the full weight of a grown man lying across his recently injured body and when he opened his eyes they told of the pain and angst he felt at the betrayal of the man he had worshiped for twelve years.

Tony grabbed Gibbs when Steve sent him his way, and pushed the man out of the room.

"What the hell, Boss?"  
Gibbs glared at the other man, alcohol overriding every rational thought his brain was sending to his body, and tried to push past him to regain entrance into Tim's room. When Tony blocked his entrance he rubbed his hand across his face and frowned at the wet substance that came off of his mouth. He slowly lowered the glare he was giving Tony and looked down at his hand, when he saw blood he paled and felt bile rise from the pit of his stomach. He quickly located the nearest restroom and barely made it in time to expelled the alcohol in his system, but not the shame that was haunting him for his recent actions.

Stein was discreetly monitoring Tim's room all day to try to find the best way to eliminate the man. He had survived for as long as he had by not rushing and always doing the necessary surveillance of any intended target. He was beginning to feel like he would have to use drastic measures to get to him with the wall of trained humanity that constantly seemed to surround the man. Then it happened the crack in the wall appeared. He would continue to watch because he knew that once the crack appeared the wall would eventually crumble. Time was on his side and quickly running out for Timothy McGee.

He walked right up to the agent standing outside the restroom, glaring at the door, "Is there a problem I could help you with?"

Tony barely glanced at the man standing beside him trying to figure out exactly how he would keep the two alpha males from tearing up both of their respective teams over this latest development, "No just a little misunderstanding. Everything will be alright soon." The last part was said more to try to convince himself than to the stranger standing beside him.

Pleased that he had gotten that close unseen, for all extents and purposes, Stein backed off and quickly left the area to find the gear he would need to not only enter the hospital room, but end his target's life.

In Tim's room Danny and Chin softly discussed their options and decided that Chin would go with Tony and Gibbs and try to reason with the obviously intoxicated man. Danny would stay with Steve and Tim to provide a barrier for the two men from the rest of their teams and Tim's sister so they could work out what just happened.

Steve's head repeatedly whipped from Tim's bruised and bloodied face to the door, he didn't want to leave Tim alone but the Seal in him wanted to tear apart the man that had caused such damage. Finally it was Tim that made the decision for him.

"Steve?", his voice was weak and filled with physical and emotional pain.

"Yeah, babe, I'm right here." was the tense reply as Steve tried to comfort the younger man while at the same time keep the fury he was feeling out of his voice.

"He was drunk, I'm not going to press charges against him."

"Fine, but he's not allowed near you without a member of my team monitoring his behavior and if there is anything close to a repeat of this situation, I will personally throw him in jail."

Tim rolled his eyes at the Seal but didn't argue so the older man gently brushed his fringe out of his eyes. Tim leaned into the gentle gesture but not before he flinched when he saw the hand approaching his face. This reaction was not missed by either man in the room with him.

AN: Made it to Oklahoma in one piece and now the unpacking begins ( why on earth did I bring some of this stuff 800 miles just to throw it in the garbage once I got here?) Anyway please review with all your thought and comments. I really love them :)stray


	16. Chapter 16

Tony led a very shaken Gibbs out of the hospital to his car, to take him to the hotel that the MCRT had check into almost forty-eight hours earlier. When they reached the car Gibbs immediately went to the driver's side only to be met by the very angry SFA shaking his head no and holding out his hand for the key. When Gibbs seemed ready to argue, Tony had enough of the older man's childish behavior.

"Boss, I defended you and I got you out of there before you could cause anymore damage to yourself or Tim, but I swear if you do not hand me those keys and get in the other side of this car right now..."  
"What DiNozzo, you're going to have me arrested? Hate to inform you, you just witnessed the attempted assault of a federal agent. You should arrest me."

Tony was stunned by the frank admission of guilt from his boss, but what was even more clear in his words was the angry he was turning internally at himself.

"I don't know exactly what happened in there, but I'm sure that you will be able to clear up everything in the morning, Boss."

Gibbs just turned a deadly glare on the younger man and refused to say anything else on the subject, so the remainder of the ride to the hotel was one made in silence, both clearly hearing the death knell ringing on their team, their family. One accepting it, like he had stoically accepted the failure of three of his marriages, the other desperately trying to find some plan of action that would save them.

Once they arrived at the hotel the silence followed them to the room that they were sharing. Gibbs walked to the mini bar and poured him a shot of bourbon but before the glass reached his mouth Tony spoke, deep anguish filling his words, but a stubborn tone also there promising that he would fulfill the implied threat if necessary.

"Don't make me call Vance."

Gibbs turned to the younger man astonishment written clearly on his face. For one second Tony thought the older man was going to open up to him, but to his disappointment he simply put down the untouched glass and stormed off to the bathroom. Tony didn't breathe a settled breath until he heard the other man start a shower.

Gibbs finished the shower and was toweling himself off when he finally admitted to himself the bone weary fatigue he was feeling physically and emotionally. He threw on a pair of soft sweats and an old USMC t-shirt before heading into the other room.

Tony was laying on the bed by the door, shoes kicked off watching the TV, but his eyes followed his mentor as he left the bathroom and walked to the other bed. Tony would never admit to anyone the amount of relief he felt when the other man laid down and appeared to doze off.

Gibbs let the fatigue take over and soon the deep dark recesses of his mind opened up as he slumbered.

He turned and looked at the young green agent, "... avoid Captain Veitch, he can be difficult."  
He made some hard ass comment as he walked into the young man's personal space, all the while drowning in a pair of sea green eyes, innocence and youth. Wanting nothing more at that moment than to possess the man and be possessed by him.

"You think you deserve him, you will just destroy him like you do everything you touch.", Rebecca's voice echoed in his head reminding him of all his past failures.

The scene changed suddenly, he was in the elevator with Tim, "You should have come to me."  
Diane's voice came from all sides, "Right Leroy, like that ever worked for me, you were always too busy."  
As he turned around to find her the scene changed once again and assaulted him from all sides he saw Tim bloody and shaken after being attack by the dog and at the same time saw him collapsing from the taser of the over-weight wanna be cop, "You can't protect him, Daddy, you couldn't protect any of us."Kelly's voice cut him the deepest.

Images started flashing through his head, warped from reality, but at the moment they felt real. Tim opening the letter filled with the plague and dying in the isolation room. Tim standing on the rooftop and falling to Ari's bullet, a hole through his head. Tim lying dead outside the back door his throat torn out by the dog. Tim being run over by a car in a parking garage because he didn't push him out of the way in time. Tim sitting beside him in a car, as it barrels into the water, drowning as he fought with the seatbelt. Tim lying dead in Erin Kendell's apartment strangled because he didn't believe him that there was really a murder in the apartment across the way. Tim's face appearing in his head over and over again dead and the only common denominator was that it was always his fault. Finally he was able to looked down and see his hands and just like earlier at the hospital he could see Tim's blood on his hand.

The combined voices of his four wives and young daughter tormented him, "You don't deserve him. You can't protect him. You'll only hurt him."

Gibbs sat up in bed covered in the layer of fear induced sweat. It was 0500 and he was desperate for a cup of coffee so he silently left the room and ventured down to the cafe in the hotel lobby.

Chin had been worried about the older man since witnessing his reaction to the blood on his hand at the hospital and had asked his cousin that worked at the hotel the Washington based team had checked into to notify him when the older man woke in the morning.

Gibbs had just finished his first cup of coffee when the Hawaiian appeared at the cafe and joined him. Even though the older man wasn't willing to confess the dark images that haunted his nights, he felt comforted by the other man and the knowledge the he had not chased everyone out of his life.

AN: This is one of the most difficult chapters I have ever written. I hope I have clearly expressed the dark place Gibbs is in emotionally and his fear of starting a new relationship. As always please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	17. Chapter 17

Steve sat next to the hospital bed watching over the young man in it carefully noting each change in the man as he moved from drug induced sleep to exhausted slumber. He fought to maintain control each time the images from earlier whipped through his mind as the what-ifs set in to torment him. What if he hadn't got the call from the nurse on duty when he did? What if he had been called out on another case? Then the worse what if of all occurred to him, what if this had happened before? Images of Tim being assaulted by the older man ran through his mind bringing waves fear coursing through the Seal. He had to know the answers to these questions before he acted any further. Did Tim even know what a true relationship was about, or did he believe that the abuse he had just suffered at the hands of the older man was a real relationship?

Tim started to stir in his sleep obviously reliving the earlier attack in his dreams, Steve started to reach for him when the younger man mumbled, "No Boss, please don't. I don't want it to be like this anymore.

Steve took the slumbering man's words to confirm his worst fears and suspicions.

Tim was reliving the earlier confrontation with Gibbs but in his dreams he was trying to convince the older man that he shouldn't continue to allow the pain of his past to control any chance for them to have a future.

Steve sat motionless for several minutes contemplating his next actions very carefully trying to determine if he was acting in his own best interest or in the best interest of the man laying in the hospital bed next to him. After a while he decided that it didn't really matter what was his true motivation for his actions, only the well being of the man that he had lost his heart to over a year ago mattered. He would do everything in his power to keep Tim safe from the tyrant who was currently his boss and abuser.

He quietly walked to the door and motioned for Danny to continue the vigil at Tim's bedside, once he was sure the young man would remain undisturbed and unmolested in his absence he checked his watch and quickly determined that it was early enough in DC for Director Vance to be arriving at his office if not he would simply keep calling until he answered. He promised Tim that he would press charges against the other man but he be damned if that man was going to be his supervisor for one more minute than necessary. Tim would be off of the MCRT before the day was over.

Director Vance answer the third time that Steve had called, "Vance."  
"This is Commander McGarrett calling Director, we have a problem."  
"Is this something to do with Gibbs?"

"Yes."

"Commander I must ask is your problem with Agent Gibbs professional or personal, because I will not tolerate being constantly called in to mediate between the two of you every time you have a pissing match."

"Well Director, my problem with Agent Gibbs is that he showed up at Agent McGee's hospital room intoxicated and assaulted the young man who is technically part of my team until the investigation into the Watson case is complete. I will be sending you pictures to confirm my statement. Agent McGee has asked that no formal charges be made against the man, however, due to the fact that I strongly believe that this is not the first time this has occurred I am requesting that Agent McGee be permanently assigned as a liaison between Five-O and NCIS and be transferred to the supervision of the Pearl Harbor Office of NCIS. I will have the proper paperwork filled out and sent to your office as soon as I am comfortable leaving Agent McGee's bedside. I have a protection detail being sent over HPD to make sure a repeat of the incident does not occur."

Steve didn't wait for the other man to reply before closing his phone and sending the pictures he had taken of the injured agent to the Director of NCIS.

NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS

Felix Stein had returned to his hotel room to get everything in order for the removal of the Agent that was causing him so many problems.

He carefully studied the maps of the hospital and discovered that the maternity ward was directly below the surgical recovery wing of the hospital. This fit in well with his plans and would prove useful in the distraction he would need to get the protection detail that was on the man out of the way.

He checked the C4 he had wired into a crude easy to defuse bomb that would be the distraction and then the second bomb that would take out his target. The second bomb was much more detailed in design and would be more difficult to diffuse. He hoped that the first bomb would provide a large enough distraction that the second one would not be found in time.

He was not going to allow for any last minute heroics, and would maintain close surveillance of the situation until the man was destroyed. Tim McGee would die before the sun rose on another day in paradise.

AN: Sorry about the long wait but life got a little intense here for a while. I'm back in a routine and should be updating one to two times a week. This story is almost complete and my next story is completely outlined and waiting for me to flesh out. As always please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)


	18. Chapter 18

Tim woke to stiffness in his chest, numbed pain in his shoulder and a soreness in his jaw that made moving any muscles on his face painful. He also found that when he opened his eyes their were a concerned pair of bluish green eyes staring down on him.

"Steve", he frowned at the gruffness in his voice.

Steve use the bed controls to raise the bed up a little and grabbed the cup of water that was on the bedside, slowly he brought the cup to Tim's lips so he could drink a little to clear his throat.

"Better?" he asked not able to hide the concern from his voice.

Tim tried to nod his head but the slight movement caused a groan to escape from his lips, "As long as I don't try to move too much."

Steve gave him a compassionate grin, "Well thankfully all you have to do for the next few days is stay here and get better."

"What's going on with the case? When will you need my official statement on the shooting?" Tim had plenty more questions to ask but at this point his voice decided to retreat back into a gruff growl.

Steve handed him the cup of water again and waited while he took several small sips.

"The case pretty much wrapped itself up when you shot Watson, we just have a few questions about the man he was having lunch with just prior to the shooting."

"Who?", Tim had decided to keep his questions short after the last episode with his voice.

"A man named Felix Stein. He has some tenuous connections to arms dealers but nothing concrete."  
"The group in Afghanistan?"

"We're not sure, Kono and Chin will be doing a deep back ground on him today."  
"Have Ellie help, she has connections with the NSA that could prove useful."  
"Danny will be tracing his movements since he arrived on the island and hopefully locate where he is staying."  
"Tony needs to be paired with Danny. His police background should make them a good fit together and avoid anymore confrontations between the two teams."  
Steve nodded it made sense and the sooner the case was closed the sooner he could concentrate on the well being of the man lying in the bed next to him.

The only aspect of the two teams that they didn't discuss was the two team leaders, the huge white elephant in the room. Tim didn't want to further the animosity between the two men by bringing them up and Steve knew he couldn't talk about the other man without losing his temper.

The pregnant silence between them was interrupted by the ringing of the younger man's cell phone that had been brought in at some point and put to charge by his bedside.

Tim looked at the caller ID and a sudden frown appeared on his face.

"Director?" he answered his phone.

"What?" his voice raised and the gruffness in his abused throat returned.

"No, I do not now nor at any point consented to a transfer request either vocally or implied."

"I will handle this, sir"

Tim hung up the cell and glared at the man sitting by his bedside.

"You...", he was so angry he had a difficult time putting a sentence together to ask the other man about his actions the night before.

Steve was facing the full fury of the younger man and suddenly doubting the wisdom of the call he had made earlier but still convinced the reasoning behind it was sound.

"Tim, I only has your best interest..."  
"You called my boss after you promised there would be no charges pressed?"  
"Well, yeah, but..."  
"You had no right to make that choice without talking to me first. How do you know I want to stay here?"

Danny had been sitting in the hallway waiting for the inevitable storm to come once the injured man discovered what his boss had done and been making contingency plans for most of the time. Once he verified that Chin was taking care of Gibbs, he called Tony to have some backup when the storm hit. He was just getting off the phone with the other man when he heard the loud angry voice come through the door signaling the beginning of the tempest.

He was getting ready to enter the room when Tim's doctor appeared not looking happy with the sudden raise of blood-pressure and heart rate of his patient.

When the doctor entered Danny followed closely behind trying to stay unnoticed by the other men in the room.

"Commander McGarrett, I'm positive I warned you about the consequences of disrupting Agent McGee's care while here. Last night and now today you and Agent Gibbs have caused a dangerous rise in his blood-pressure and heart rate that is detrimental to his recovery. This is the last warning I am going to give. Either you control yourself while in this room and put Agent McGee's well-being first or I am going to be forced to bar the two of you from this room permanently."

Danny was quick to respond to the doctor trying to prevent an outburst from his boss or the man lying in the bed., "We understand. It won't happen again." He glared at the man standing next to the bed to silently make his point.

The doctor checked over his patient and left the room giving the team leader another glare for good measure.

Tim had worked hard to bring his breathing and heart beat under control while still holding on to the anger he felt toward both of the team leaders. He was not their plaything. He was a grown man capable of making his own decisions and a federal agent to boot. He could take care of himself and he was tired of the two men thinking that he was helpless and needed the big strong Marine or Seal to take care of him. That was going to end now!

The door to Tim's room opened once more and Tim smiled when he saw he friend and partner enter the room.

"Tony could you please contact the Boss and tell him I need to talk to him?"

Tony was leery about having the two team leaders in the same room, but the defiant look on the other man's face assured him that he would have this well in hand.

Steve started to get up to leave when Tim requested the other man's visit but Tim was on top of it as soon as he moved, "No, Commander you need to hear this two and I only have enough energy to say this once."

Everyone in the room stilled had the hard as granite young man once again replaced the soft spoken computer tech that they knew and loved.

AN: Well it looks like it about to hit the fan now. Hope you enjoyed the update. Please leave your thoughts and comments they are always appreciated. :) stray 


	19. Chapter 19

Chin was still with Gibbs when Tony called to let his boss know that Tim wished to speak with him. Guilt spread across the former Marine's face as memories of his actions the night before came crashing down on him full force. Chin picked up on the other man's discomfort, "Anything you want to talk about?"

"No, Tony called to tell me that Tim wants to talk to me."

"Hey man, you say that like it's a bad thing."

"If it was good he would have called me himself."

"I'll give you a ride, need to check on my boss while I'm there."  
Chin didn't notice the pain that cross Gibbs' face at the mention of the other man and the reminder that he was the one with Tim. Or maybe that was the whole point.

The short ride to the hospital was made in silence and soon Gibbs found himself standing in front of the door to the room he both wanted to be in more than anything and not at all.

"Come on Marine, you face killers, rapists and terrorists on a daily basis. You should have no problem opening this door and facing the man who has loved you for twelve years."  
Even after the impromptu pep talk Gibbs stood motionless outside the door for several minutes before he forced his hand up to turn to knob and walk inside.

When Gibbs walked inside his stomach turned upon seeing the bruises that covered a good portion of the younger man's face and the swelling of his lower lip in addition to the bandages covering his right shoulder. He also immediately notice the anger radiating off the man and the guilty look on McGarrett's face which told him something had transpired during his absence. He looked to Tony for an update on the situation but the young man was only glaring at both team leaders with disbelief apparent in his gaze.

"What did you do?", he growled at the Seal and prepared for another battle with the stubborn man.

"ME? You come in here last night drunk and try to force yourself on him and you have the nerve to ask me what I did?" Steve felt some remorse over the phone call he had made but he'd be damned if he allowed the Marine to blame him for this situation. In his mind the blame belonged firmly with the other man.

"Enough, both of you." the softly whispered words from the man laying in the bed seemed to echo in the room, making both team leaders suddenly look like little boys who had got caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

No one noticed when the door to the room silently opened admitting Tim's doctor or the middle-aged woman standing behind him in the hallway listening to every word.

"I am a federal agent trained to serve, defend and protect." Tim continued every word just barely above a whisper but so forceful that they seemed to be coming from every inch of the room.

"The only thing that is stopping me from putting a bullet in both of you is the fear that one of you would be put in this room with me and I'd have no means of escape."

"Gibbs, I respected and trusted you for twelve long years. I was willing to sacrifice everything for you last year, even my own life, and how do you repay me? When I finally allow myself to confess to you how I feel, you brutally assault me while I'm in the hospital because you are unwilling to face the demons of your past. You would rather hurt me than try to work through your issues."  
"Tim..." Gibbs tried to defend his actions of the night before but was cut off.  
"I'm not finished yet. Steve get that stupid grin off of your face. I trusted you and thought that we could possibly have a future together, but a relationship requires respect and trust on both sides. You have shown absolutely no respect for me or the decisions I make when you called Director Vance last night and requested my transfer without even consulting me first. Gibbs may have made a poor decision last night when he tried to force himself on me but at least he had the excuse of being intoxicated. You, stone cold sober, sat at my bedside last night and decided to ignore my request that nothing be done until we could all calmly talk about the situation and called my boss at the first opportunity to try and force me to stay here. How am I supposed to trust you after you have clearly shown that you neither trust me or respect me?"  
"Tim, I was..."  
"I don't want to hear any excuses from either of you right now. I DON'T CARE WHY YOU HAVE ACTED THE WAY YOU HAVE."

Tim took a deep breath to get his emotions back under control. Hard green eyes stared at both men and he finished, "I need to work out how I feel about both of you right now. I don't want to see either of you again until I do, I WILL CALL YOU WHEN I'M READY TO TALK. Until then do whatever you have to do to work things out between you because I promise you this if one of you tries to force me to choose between you, you will not like my choice."

Tim closed his eyes all of his energy draining from him with his anger, "Please leave."

As the four men got up to exit the room they came face to face with Tim's doctor and the Govenor of Hawaii. Tim's doctor looked past the men to his patient and performed a quick exam before administering a mild sedative and pain killers to allow him to get the rest his body demanded.

"Tony." the man in the bed mumbled.

"Yeah Probie, I'm right here."  
"Can you bring Sandy here. I need to talk to her too."

"Sure thing, but you need to get some rest first."  
"Thanks." came the soft reply as sleep took the man.

"Madame Govenor.", Danny said respectfully as Tony went to speak with Tim. The Govenor nodded her head to the hallway motioning that they should move the conversation outside of the injured man's room.

"Commander McGarrett. Agent Gibbs." she acknowledged both men.

"I will not pretend to understand exactly what has caused the animosity between the two of you or the relationship that you each have with the man in that room, however, I must admit to supporting the decision he just made. You will each remove yourselves from this hospital until the time that he request your presence. To make myself completely clear nothing short of a bomb threat is to bring either of you hear, clear."  
Yes ma'am." was the reply from both men.

"Now do I need to clear a state park for a shoot out at high noon or will the two of you work this out civilly?"

AN: Well I hope I didn't disappoint anyone or go to far with Tim's rant. Hope you enjoyed and as always please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray :)


	20. Chapter 20

While Steve and Gibbs were occupied by the Govenor, Danny and Tony were busy making plans to help the man laying behind the door in the hospital bed.

Soon they had everything ready to commence Operation: Save Tim from the Idiots.

As soon as the Govenor finished speaking the SFA and Detective walked behind the two team leaders and preceded to handcuff both men. After warning them that this could go easy or very difficult the younger men then secured all the weapons the two men were carrying and led them out to the waiting car.

The trip to the Palace was punctuated by several threats made by the two men sitting in the back seat handcuffed. To say that they were not happy with the situation was an understatement, the two men in the front never said a word and simply continued the trip ignoring the men behind them.

Their arrival at the Palace was expect by Chin who was in on the plan.

"Everything ready?", Danny asked the Hawaiian.

"Yeah man, just one question. When this is over, where are we going to hide?" he asked with a grin.

The team leaders were led down to the basement of the Palace and into the interrogation room that had been prepared for their arrival in one corner was two sets of boxing gloves and mouth guards, in another corner their was a fifth of bourbon poured into a plastic milk jug and several beers poured into plastic bottles and in a third corner were the keys to the handcuffs the two men were wearing.

"Beat each other up, get drunk or refuse to work together and stay handcuffed we don't care. But until you both decide to put Tim first we are not letting the two of you out. Have fun." Tony told the two men as the door closed leaving the team leaders on one side and the balance of their teams on the other.

When the three men entered the War Room of the Palace they immediately began their research into Felix Stein and continued to trace his movements since arriving in Hawaii.

Once Chin had the search perimeters in the computer and they where waiting for the computer to finish, Tony got on the phone.  
"Ellie, I need you and Kono to bring Sandy to headquarters and help with the investigation."  
He quickly hung up the phone much to the surprise of the other two men present.

He looked at the surprised faces curiously, "What?"

"You always so rude on the phone?" Danny asked.

"Rude?"

"Yeah, no hello, goodbye or anything."

Tony just shrugged his shoulders not knowing what to say. Chin just started laughing, "Let me know if you're ever going to call Kono like that, I want to be on the other line so I can hear her tear you up and spit you out. Tim mustn't be the only one on your team with the patience of Job if that's the way you talk to your team members."  
Chin was still shaking his head when the computer dinged signaling that the search had completed.

Danny got to the screen first and the room once again became all business.

"It looks like Stein was in the Middle East at the same time as our guys last year, though his exact whereabouts while he was there are not clear."  
"I think we can safely assume that if seeing the man again triggered a flashback in Probie, he was there." Tony declared confidently.

Danny and Chin both agreed with him though it set all three of their police instincts on fire.

"This is definitely not good. You think we should go let the Commander and Gibbs in on what we just found?", Tony asked not wanting to be further on Gibbs bad side than necessary.

Chin turned on the feed from the security camera in interrogation to see what was happening and quickly decided that telling the two men was really not a good idea at the moment, "Well at least they were smart enough to use the gloves."  
The other two men looked at the feed and just shook their heads at the battle going on below their feet. Both the Seal and the Marine looked like they had taken a few good hits but neither man looked like they where ready to concede to the other just yet.

"Why don't we way until they start on the booze to go down and talk to them?" Danny suggested.

They had all sat back to watch the feed occasionally groaning when one or the other of the two men got in a particularly good shot when the three women Tony had called arrived.

"What's up?", Kono asked as she entered the room closely followed by Ellie and Sandy.

Chin hurriedly turned off the feed and turned his attention to the women, but it was Tony who spoke first, "Tim wants to see Sandy at the hospital and I figured you could use some of your connections at NSA to find out exactly where Stein was last year. We've confirmed he was in the Middle East but we don't know in which country."  
Ellie narrowed her eyes, "What are you really up to Tony?"  
"Why do you think I'm up to something?"

Ellie just looked at Kono and the two women elbowed the men away from the table and quickly had the feed once again playing on the plasma.

Shocked silence filled the room for about two seconds before the women began laughing.  
"Well that's one way to get them to settle their differences." Ellie gasped between bouts of giggles.

"Uh, ladies... Stein." Danny said trying to get the women back on task.

Soon the room was filled with muffled conversations as the men brought the ladies up to speed on the events of the morning and the progress they had made on the case.

Once the update was complete Tony, Sandy and Jethro left to go visit Tim at the hospital. Tony brought along a photo of Stein to show the other man and maybe jog his memory.

NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS

Stein arrived at the hospital ready to put his plan into action when he noticed the arrival of the Govenor and her security detail.

Knowing that her presence would greatly reduce his chance of success, he decided to wait until a little later in the day to put it into motion.

He was so close to finally ending the life of Tim McGee that he was willing to wait for a few hours. Tim McGee would still be dead by the end of the day, of that he was positive.

AN: Hope you enjoyed and please review with thoughts and comments :) stray


	21. Chapter 21

Once Tony had Sandy and Jethro settled onto the car, he decided to handle the young woman with kid gloves but at the same time be very firm with her, " Tim is my best friend, so I'm telling you this as his friend. Stay out of his personal life."  
"Tony, I was only trying to..."

"That's been everybody's problem since this all began. Everybody is trying to help, but nobody bothered to ask him if he wanted the help. It may have cost him any chance of happiness with either man. Now we have Gibbs and Steve occupied for the time being, but he asked me to bring you to the hospital, so against my better judgment, I'm doing just that, because it is what he wants."  
Tony stopped at a traffic light so he turned to look at the young woman to judge her reaction for himself. The thoughtful look at her face told him he may have gotten through to her.

"I understand." Sandy said softly.

"Good, Probie loves you, you know that right."  
Sandy smiled, "Of course, and I love him to, so from now, hands off of his love life. Okay?"

Tony got the car moving again, "Okay."

The rest of the ride to the hospital was made in silence as Tony thought it would be a good idea to let Sandy think about the conversation they just had before she saw her brother.

The two men in the basement interrogation room of the Palace had stopped trying to take each others head off and began using the time and the gloves as a sparring match to improve their skills and learn from each other. After each man had gotten in a few decent hits, they decided to take a break.

"When did you know you wanted him?", Steve asked cautiously.

Gibbs stared at the man speculatively, trying to see if their was a hidden motive behind the question.

"Just asking. If you don't want to tell me I'd understand." Steve shrugged when the other man seemed hesitant to speak.  
"The first time I met him, in Norfolk. He was a very green case agent then. I misjudged him horribly. Thought he would run in terror with a single glance."  
Steve started to laugh, "He didn't."

"Nope, stood toe to toe with me taking my evilest glare. It was the first time I saw the hardness underneath the soft exterior. You?"

"When he took the laptop from my communications officer in the desert last year. Kind of the same thing as with you. I saw this soft, gentle man that when pushed could become so much more and I decided that I really wanted to get to know him better. What stopped you?"

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

"But you guys are civilians?"

"We work closely with the military and I wasn't willing to risk either of our careers. I held him at arm's length for almost a year, before I requested that he be assigned to my team. Couldn't have him but I didn't want to be without him."

"And after Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed?"  
"Same reasons, basically, he was the junior member of my team, couldn't risk his career of mine."  
"What changed?"  
"Found out he felt the same way. What about you, what stopped you?"  
Steve moved to the corner of the room with the alcohol and reached for the gallon jug of bourbon and the two plastic cups that were left for them. Gibbs shook his head no, remembering his behavior the last time he had drank the hard liquor and they each reach for one of the plastic bottles that held the beer.

"When I looked into his eyes at the base hospital after his rescue, I realized that he cared for someone else. He tried to hide it, but it was there to be seen by anyone who was looking. I told him that when he could come to me one hundred percent I'd be waiting for him, but I don't share even a little."

"Well that's one thing we have in common, I don't share either?" Gibbs said with a grin.

"Here's to not sharing." Steve said returning the other man's grin and the two of the tapped the bottles they were holding together to confirm their agreement.

"Tim's decision?" Steve asked after taking a long sip out of the bottle.

Gibbs swallowed the beer in his mouth and nodded, "Tim's decision."

The two men each took another sip, acknowledging the truce they had just reached.

As Sandy and Jethro entered the room where her brother was recovering, Tony stated outside to speak with the two HPD officers that were currently providing protection to the young man.

"This is Felix Stein," he said showing them the picture of the man he had brought with him, "He is a person of interest in the attack on Agent McGee, if you see him call the Five-O headquarters immediately."

Both officers took a good long look at the picture and nodded to the federal agent, they had dealt with the task force before and neither wished to earn the wrath of the man who headed Five-O.

Once Tony had that taken care of, he entered the room of the man he considered his best friend and brother.

"The doctor confirmed that I should be able to travel under medical supervision in a couple of days, Director." Tim was on the phone when Tony walked inside, so he sat on the opposite side of Sandy and waited patiently for him to finish his call.

"Thank you, Director. Tell Ducky that I look forward to seeing him tomorrow, and I will make sure someone is at the airport to pick him up when he arrives. Just call me back with his arrival time."

"Good-bye, Director."  
"So you're headed back to DC?" Tony asked almost bouncing in his seat thinking that Tim had made a decision between the two suitors.

"Yes." Tim said "But not because I have made a choice. I just want to be away from all of this to think. The Director has granted me medical leave for the next few weeks while I recover and I want to think about things away from both men."  
Tim was still very angry at both men. Tony decided that discretion was the better part of valor so he quickly changed the subject. He pulled out the picture of the man they were looking for, "Do you recognize this man, Tim?"

Tim looked at the picture and closed his eyes trying to think back, "I've seen him before, but not sure where? He's familiar to me."

"His name is Felix Stein and he was eating with Watson right before the shoot-out."  
When Tony brought up the shoot-out that had killed Sandy's father, Tim turned a worried glance in her direction.

"Don't worry about me, Tim." the young woman said "My father died years ago, I didn't even know the man you killed that day."

Tim took a deep breath and exhaled his relief at Sandy's words.

"He was also in the Middle East at the same time as you last year." Tony continued carefully watching McGee's face as he gave him that bit of information.

"I can't tell you anything about who was at the insurgent camp I was taken to last year. Either I was blindfolded, drugged or both the entire time I was held." Tim admitted looking down.

Tony realized the younger man was trying to figure out if he could have done anything more to aid in the capture of the insurgents that had held him. He softly tapped the back of Tim's head and when the other man looked up, he looked him straight in the eyes, "You survived. That's more than enough."  
The unusual emotional moment between the two men was interrupted by the ringing of Tony's cell.

"DiNozzo."

"They are?"  
"Wow! I'm heading back now so we can debrief them."  
Tony turned a smiling face to the two other people in the room, "Well Boss and McGarrett have stopped trying to kill each other and have started drinking, so that's my cue to head back and get them updated on the search for Stein."  
"Be careful, Tony." Tim said, a mischievous smile on his face. "I'm not there to have your six."  
Tony put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and smiled, before nodding goodbye.

"See you kids later."

Stein watched as the Italian NCIS agent entered the hospital with Sandy and the dog. Now was the time. He got out of his car and entered the building. In only few minutes he managed to get his hands on a set of custodial keys, thanks to the maintenance man for the hospital that liked to spend time his girlfriend on company time. He never did look past the overalls Stein wore before handing him the keys and giving him a list of chores to do while he chatted with the woman of his dreams.

Tony almost ran the man over, leaving the building while Stein was heading out with a gurney to retrieve the two bombs, but Stein quickly pulled down the cap he was wearing and ducked his head down before changing directions.

The near miss cost Stein a few minutes as he detoured around the parking lot the other man went to, but before long he was bring the bombs into the hospital carefully hidden inside a body bag on the gurney. In ten minutes the hospital would give way to chaos.

AN: Hope this hit the spot. Please review with thoughts and comments. :) stray


	22. Chapter 22

Stein was pleased with himself the first part of his plan had gone off without a hitch, he had both bombs inside the hospital and hadn't set off any alarms. His exploration of the hospital during his earlier visits had made him aware of a little used storage closet that shared a wall with the newborn nursery on the third floor, almost directly below the room that Agent McGee was recovering. He had decided that would be where he placed the diversionary bomb. It would cause the most panic and with people's biologically ingrained need to protect young life it would give him the time he would need to set up his primary weapon that would guarantee the end of Agent McGee.

Minutes after his chance encounter with Agent DiNozzo he had transferred the bombs from the body bag he had used to secret them into the building onto a cart covered with a bed sheet and was heading to the third floor.

Once he had the bomb set up in the closet he set the timer for forty-five minutes and walked away secure in the knowledge that even a unskilled ammunitions expert could disarm it in less than two, he had no desire to be labeled a baby killer, even in his line of work that kind of person was frowned upon, threatening babies was fine, killing no.

He then recovered the cart holding the remaining bomb with a sheet and exited the closet. He quickly entered the nearest elevator and proceeded up one floor. On the fourth floor he went to the restroom that Agent Gibbs has used the night before and put up and "Out of Order" sign on the door before he entered it and locked it from the inside. He was now ready for the final part of his plan. He picked up the burn phone that he bought just for this occasion and called in the bomb threat to HPD.

Gibbs and Steve had just been let out of the interrogation room and were being brought up to date on the morning finds, when the phone in the War Room rang. Tony walked in the room at the sound and answered before it could ring a second time. His face filled with horror when he heard the news and he put the phone on speaker, "Could you please repeat that?"  
"There was a bomb threat called in at the hospital, the bomb squad as just confirmed that it is real and they have located the bomb and are in the process of disarming it. The hospital is being evacuated."

Everyone in the room was moving before the voice on the other end of the phone has finished and Kono being the last to exit the room hung up the call, no one had said a word in response.

Steve remembering Tim's frequent comments on Gibbs' driving threw him the keys to the car as he, Tony and Danny all entered. Kono, Chin and Ellie followed right on their tail. Almost as soon as they car began moving Steve's cell phone rang.

"McGarrett."

"Govenor, I promise this is in no way an attempt to circumvent your directives from earlier, there really is a bomb at the hospital."

"We are already on our way."

Tim had spent the time with his sister talking about their lives and setting boundaries that each should abide by when it came to the others personal life. Surprisingly it was Tim that had the harder time agreeing to those boundaries when it came to his little sister, but in the end fair was fair and as long as he was allowed to do background checks on anyone who showed too much interest he conceded.

He was just starting about to call an end to the visit because he was beginning to feeling the effects of the sedative the IV administered, when the door to his room opened and one of the guards from outside entered worry written all over his face.

"Sir, there as been a bomb threat called in, we have to evacuate you now!"

Tim nodded slowly and reached under his mattress for the Raven that normally went in his ankle holster.

"What you don't think my team would ever leave me unarmed?"

"No sir, neither would Commander McGarrett."

He then grabbed his cell off the bedside table and swung his legs over the side of the bed as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

Sandy had one hand holding Jethro's walking leash and the other around her brother to offer him support when the second guard opened the door with a wheelchair. As soon as the door opened Jethro bolted for the open door and was out of the room before anyone could stop him.

Tim pulled out his IV and grabbed his robe from the foot of the bed, "You two get her out of here now!"  
The officers were shocked by the sudden change in the young man and didn't question his authority or his orders. Tim gave his sister a soft peck on the cheek as he deposited the phone and gun into the pockets of his robe.

"I'll get Jethro and be right behind you, promise."

The two officers guided the woman out of the room, "Should we hold the elevator for you?"

"No, get her out of here."

Tim took a deep breath a got to his feet unaided, the sudden adrenaline rush fighting off the effect of the sedatives, and exited the room in search of the dog.

Stein patiently waited inside the restroom as he heard the evacuation of the patients on the floor, he knew the protocol demanded that the Special Agent be the last one to leave so he would not be separated from his security detail. When he heard the guards address the young man in the room he got ready to make his move.

He quietly closed the door and checked over the bomb one last time, he would put a bullet in between McGee eyes and let the bomb hide all the evidence for him. By tomorrow he would be living in a villa in Switzerland enjoying his retirement.

When he reopened the door he couldn't believe his good fortune, the guards were leaving in the elevator and McGee was exiting his room alone. He didn't even bother to close the door as he turned around and set the timer and the bomb for two minutes. That gave him more than enough time to handle the injured and medicated man and get out of the bomb radius. So occupied by what he thought was a lucky break he never noticed the large German Shepard that lunged at him and he only caught a brief glimpse of the strong jaws that went down around his throat before he no longer was able to think at all. Death came quick for Felix Stein.

Tim called Jethro to his side and took in the situation. He grabbed his cell and hit the first number on speed dial.

"Boss."  
"Tim where are you and why didn't you leave with your detail."  
"Did Sandy make it out alright?"  
"Yeah. Tim the bombs been defused we're on our way up."  
"Boss, NO! There's another bomb."  
Tim ignored the man yelling at him on the other side of the phone., "Jethro, find Sandy. Protect Sandy."  
The dog whined at him not wanting to obey,but the tone of Tim's voice gave the well trained animal no choice.

"Jethro is on his way out, Boss. I'm by the elevator next to room 4022, there's no time. I need to know do I send it up or down?"  
Tim heard Steve's voice in the background, "Up, top floor is under construction. There should be nothing there to cause a secondary explosion."

Tim used every bit of strength he had left to push the cart with the bomb onto the elevator and push the button for the top floor."  
"It's on it's way up, make sure everyone's at least twenty feet from the shaft. There was a lot of C4 on that thing."  
"Okay Tim it's time for you to clear out."

"Sorry Boss. I'm done. I guess it was always my fate to die protecting the ones I love. You and Steve take care of each other for me."

With the last of his energy Tim pulled down a gurney and positioned it between him and the elevator then he covered himself with the thin mattress that was on top.

Gibbs was still screaming into the phone when Jethro came running out of the building and seconds later they felt the ground shake beneath their feet and felt the heat come out of the hospital as the bomb went off.

The two teams held tightly to their leaders partly to offer their support but more importantly to prevent the two men from running into the building.

Jethro stopped at Sandy's feet turned around a let out a long, mournful howl at the building he just exited.

AN: Hope you enjoyed. Please review with thoughts and comments. :) stray


	23. Chapter 23

Sandy waited patiently for any word that her brother had arrived, when Jethro let out his mournful howl she collapsed thankfully in the waiting arms of Kono, "No he promised!" she wailed.

Ellie quickly moved in to help Kono, as Danny and Tony were occupied trying to settle down the two team leaders and keep them from running into the still smoking building.

Chin showed up at that moment with the head of the bomb squad in tow, "Everyone has been accounted for with the exception of Agent McGee."  
At the formal use of Tim's name both team leaders turned to the Hawaiian in time to see him nod at the arrival of the Govenor.

"Gentlemen, while it saddens me to hear that Agent McGee was unable to escape the blast, his actions and quick thinking saved a lot of lives today. Agent Gibbs, your man died a hero and I will be sure his actions of today will be long remember on these islands."  
The two team leaders glared at the woman, but quickly took note of the nearby news crews and realized that this was nothing more than a sound bite to be aired on the local news.

"I haven't seen a body yet Govenor. Don't be counting him among the dead until we do." Gibbs responded softly enough for the two teams to hear but not the news crews.

She looked at the man sadly and nodded her acknowledgment of his words, "I never pictured you to be one to give into false hope."  
"Not false hope until there's no hope." Steve not Gibbs answered.

Tony moved away from the team leaders when the Govenor arrived and started to try and comfort the German Shepard still laying facing the building whining. As he petted the large animal's head he noticed the blood still in the muzzle.

"Boss! There was someone else still in the hospital, besides Tim."

Gibbs and Steve moved to where the younger man was kneeling beside the dog.

"What ya got?"  
"Blood in his muzzle. Jethro would never attack Tim, so someone else had to be up there right before the attack. That must be why Jethro took off out of the hospital room when they were getting ready to leave."  
Jethro finally turned away from the hospital with all the attention on him and looked at the three men imploring them to find his friend with his longing eyes. Steve reached down to pet the animal, "Did you get the bad guy, boy?"

Jethro let out a soft bark, then once again turned to stare at the building.

"Agent Gibbs. Commander McGarrett. The fire chief as just declared the building safe to enter we are sending in a rescue and recovery team, where was the last known location of your man?"The head of the bomb approached the two men cautiously.

"We're coming too" Steve said forcefully, not thinking for a second that Gibbs would not be hot on his heels to find the young man they cared about so much.

"Sirs..." the man began

"Don't call me sir, I work for a living." Gibbs growled. Steve smiled softly at the comment remembering it for future use.

The two men pushed past the stuttering man and headed straight to the team preparing to enter the hospital.

The military training of both men quickly had them geared up and ready to enter with the rest of the team, they only stopped for a second when Tony approached with two ear wigs and handed them to each man, "Keep in touch."  
They nodded to the senior agent and entered the smoldering building.

The trip to the fourth floor was eerie, the building seemed hollow and the lack of people in the place that was teeming with lift such a short time earlier would have sent shivers up a lesser man's spine. Their footsteps echoed loudly in the halls and no one seemed willing to speak and disturb the deafening sound of silence that filled the air.

They had just entered the hallway where McGee had last reported his location when they saw the charred remains of a man laying on the ground, an open restroom door appeared to be the safe haven he was looking for when the bomb exploded.

"I'm sorry sirs. The Govenor was right, he died a hero." the man in charge of the rescue operation said approaching the two men accompanying his team.

"Keep looking. That's not Agent McGee." Gibbs growled.

"Sir, everyone else has been accounted for, this has to be your man."

Steve pushed Gibbs past the man as they continued to scan the hallway, " Keep looking." he confirmed Gibbs' order.

Instead of continuing the search, he reached for his radio, "Send in the coroner, we found the body. Also can you send up some help McGarrett and Gibbs don't want to accept the truth and insist on continuing the search. They seem to believe someone else was in the hospital."

Gibbs was walking down the hallway ignoring the man on the radio when he past room 4022 and notice the gurney flipped over on the floor, he almost continued on by when he saw part of a very familiar cell phone partially covered by the thin mattress that normally rested on the gurney.

"Steve." he motioned for the man to come over and help.

The two men carefully lifted the mattress and to their relief and horror they uncovered the very still body of Tim McGee.

Gibbs reached down and touched the side of his neck, he let out a sigh of relief, "Send in a Doctor, we found Tim and HE IS ALIVE." Gibbs spoke into his mike, and sat back on his heels looking up at Steve with a rare grin on his face.

"He's alive." Steve repeated returning Gibbs' smile.

AN: Thought about doing it, actually wrote it and turned this into a Gibbs/McGarrett but in the end I couldn't do it. Tim just couldn't die. Fought long and hard over which chapter to publish. Hope you like and please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray :) 


	24. Chapter 24

The joy of finding Tim alive was short lived as the EMTs arrived and started listing his injuries as they triage the young man and got him ready to move for treatment.

"Stitches in the shoulder are destroyed, left lower leg shattered and shrapnel is deeply imbeded in the cafe muscle. Three broken ribs on this side."

The younger of the two EMT's reported from the left side, the other was working on the right and his report was just as grim, "Several broken ribs here too, when we move him we have to be careful that we don't puncture a lung in transport, God he's got burns over a large portion of his body, but only second and first degree, thankfully that mattress fell on top of him and the sprinkler system worked."

"Head trauma over here." the younger of the two spoke again as they began to stabilize the injured man's neck to prepare to move him to the waiting gurney.

All while the EMTs worked the two team leaders stood over them like silent guardian angels watching over a charge, grimacing at the announcement of each new injury, sometimes flinching as if they could feel the pain that the injury brought on their own body.

The one good piece of news was that Tim was breathing on his own, but even that was taken away from the two men when they finally got Tim loaded onto the gurney as started to move him out of the building. The gurney was unexpectedly hit by falling debris and one of the broken ribs puncture his lung. It seemed like there was no break in store for Tim and fate intended to take every bit of hope for his continued survival away from the two men silently following behind the medical professionals.

Once outside the news continued to be dismal as Doctors swarmed around the gurney trying desperately to stabilize him and get him ready for transport to the hospital at Pearl. It was devastating for the two teams watching because of the open area the medical personal were forced to work in allowed them to see all the gory details of the desperate fight to save the life of the friend.

Ellie was forced to move away when they sliced into his side to insert a tube to reinflate his lung and even Steve and Gibbs turned their head as they reset the broken bone in his leg, but even though they couldn't see they were still heartbroken because through all the rough medical treatment no sound or movement was made by the man on the stretcher. If not for the steady beat of the heart monitor you would not be able to tell that Tim was alive.

Finally Tim was ready to transport to Pearl and even though the Seal and Marine didn't want to leave the young man they finally responded to reason and allowed the ambulance to leave with just the medical personal who could save his life inside.

The two teams followed closely on the bumper of the ambulance all the way and once again the deafening sound of silence permeated the air of the cars that formed the caravan to the hospital.

Upon arrival at the hospital, Tim was rushed into surgery to try and repair the broken body that was dragged out of the bombed building. Steve and Gibbs took one look at the attendants that had ridden in the ambulance, there grim faces told the story that made the words unnecessary, Tim's heart had stopped on the ride.

The two men sat on opposite sides of the waiting room but unlike earlier there were no dark glances and no comments on who was to blame, in fact neither man said a word as the hours past.

Tony, Danny, Chin, Ellie and Kono each watched the men as they took turns trying to calm a devastated Sandy. Coffee was brought in at regular intervals but that remained untouched at their feet, and the silence continued.

Tony called Vance to update him to the situation and to get Ducky's arrival time, but when he went to hand the phone over to Gibbs, the older man just shook his head, he had no words to express what he was going through and no desire to hear soft spoken platitudes.

Six hours after their arrival at the hospital an exhausted Doctor entered the waiting room, "Agent McGee." The group stood up as one and the two team leaders flanked Sandy as they waited for the diagnoses from the medical professional.

"We repaired the damage to his shoulder and he should have a complete recovery of the arm, that will just take time and work on his part. His leg was a different story, we were able to save it but the nerve and muscle damage was severe, that combined with the previous injury to the leg makes me doubtful that he will regain full use. His lung was reinflated and he is on a respirator as a precaution but we should be able to remove the tube in about twenty-four hours. Our main concern right now is the head injury he sustained. There is substantial damage to his left eardrum and swelling on that side of his brain, we are doing everything we can to relieve the pressure but that is a wait and see situation before we decide if we need to go back in to do it surgically."

"Can we see him?" Tony asked the question because the two team leaders had appeared to have lost the capability to speak at some point between finding Tim and their current location.

"He will be brought to ICU shortly and will be allowed visitors. I must warn you he is in a coma."  
"How long?" the words were whispered by Sandy whose voice was ruff from crying.

"I don't know. That is up to Agent McGee. We have done everything we can for him and now the ball is in his court."

The group once again fell silent as they followed the Doctor to the ICU unit and got their first look at their fallen comrade. Tim was pale and still and once again the only sign of life was the steady beat of the heart monitor that told of the heart of a lion that beat within the chest of the young agent.

Night fell and the members of the team drifted in and out of the room with the exception of the two team leaders, time had seemed to come to a stand still for them as they sat on either side of the bed waiting for the bright green eyes to open.

Ducky showed up around noon the following day and finally convinced the two men that they need food and rest to continue the vigil. Each man took a twelve hour shift, while the other got the substance needed for the bodies to survive. The days past and one became seven with no change, just the steady beat of Tim's heart holding the two men to sanity.

Their teams became more concerned as the two men haunted the halls of the hospital at Pearl just as the ghost that was rumored to inhabit the location. They took turns exercising his good leg and arms so atrophy wouldn't set in and they carefully watched the personal care for the man, but neither said a word the was not necessary.

By the tenth day salvation arrived in an unexpected source, Joe White.

He walked into the hospital room as Steve and Gibbs were trading off vigils, "Son, if you plan on taking care of that young man when he gets out of here I suggest you take better care of yourself right now. The way you two look he's going to have to take care of you when he finally wakes up."  
Steve looked up at the man and gave him a half-hearted smile, "Joe, what brings you here?"  
"I've been working with the computer experts that have been tracking the virus your boy there down loaded into the insurgents computer last year. If our intel is correct we have an opportunity to take down the whole group that captured him and put a pretty big hurt on the rest of the insurgents in the area. I thought you might want to go finish what your boy started last year, but honestly son, you look like a strong wind would blow you over right now."  
Both men perked up when they heard the news, if they could take down the insurgents that put a price on Tim's head it would free him of a great burden once he awoke.

"I'm in." Steve said forcefully.  
"Got room for a sniper on your team?" Gibbs said not willing to be left out.

"Already had a lay over planned in DC so you can get your gear, Gunny"  
Both men took one last look at the man lying in the bed and turned to follow Joe out of the hospital, finally purpose had returned to their gait.

AN: I hope I clearly got across the depression that Gibbs and Steve was going through. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)


	25. Chapter 25

The silence in the car as the three men drove away from the hospital was different from the silence that surrounded Gibbs and Steve for the previous ten days, the silence before was deafening this one was contemplative. The two men were thinking not of the man trapped in the broken body, healing in the hospital but of the actions they would soon be taking to keep him safe. The silence was therapeutic in nature and was the start of the mental healing both men needed. Joe watched both men carefully as he drove and he smiled to himself thinking about the call that had started him on this journey.

\- Three days earlier-

"Leon, or should I say Director, what can I do for you?"  
"You still close with the McGarrett family?"

"Steve's like a son to me, why?"  
"How much do you know about his mission in Afghanistan last year?"  
"Know that one of your boys and Steve got in one hell of a pissing match."

Vance then filled Joe in on everything he knew about the situation, including the intel that had just come in about the group of insurgents that held Tim captive.

"The SecNav wants to send in a Seal Team and I think you would be the man to lead it."

"What's the catch?"

"Convince those two hard-heads to leave the hospital and go with you. They need to find an outlet for the anger and grief before one or both of them implode."  
The two men stayed on the phone for another hour discussing the mission and the strategy Joe would have to use if the men were unwilling to leave Tim's side. Once they decided on a plan of attack Joe had one more question for the other man.

"When McGee wakes up, what are they going to do flip a coin for him?"  
"From my understanding they finally decided to let Tim make the choice and both agreed to honor that decision. You really have no problem with Steve and Tim being together?"  
"I told you, Steve is like a son to me. I just want him happy. I'll keep you in the loop, Leon."

-present day-

They first went to the hotel that Gibbs was staying at to pick up his gear and let his team know he would be leaving before heading to Steve's beach house and giving the Five-O team the same message.

Only a few short hours after the two men left the hospital they were sitting on a tarmac at Pearl waiting for the military transport that would take them first to DC to pick up the remainder of the Seal Team that would be aiding them on the mission and after a nights lay over, on to the Middle East so they could finish what they started a year ago.

Joe noticed that both men sat quietly on the transport and to the untrained eye each appeared to be getting the sleep that they desperately needed, but he knew better. Their bodies might be resting a little but both of their minds were back at the hospital with the man they loved.

If they had any chance of getting out of Afghanistan unscathed he would need both of their minds completely in the game. He decided that if things did not change during their stay in DC he would handle that problem on the way to the desert.

Once the plane landed in DC the three men headed in different directions, Steve went straight to the hotel that he had made reservations. Shortly after checking in he was on his phone with Danny who had promised to keep an eye on Tim and let him know if the young man's condition changed. After finding out that nothing changed during the long flight the Navy Seal decided to have a light meal at the hotel dining room before heading off to bed. Fate seemed to be out to torment the man when he was seated directly across from a very happy homosexual couple who were obviously out celebrating, Steve almost gagged on his steak when he noticed the brand new gold bands that graced both of the young men's ring finger on their left hand. He nibbled on the remainder of his dinner watching the two men easily imagining himself and Tim enjoying a similar meal and celebration.

Joe White left the airfield and drove straight to the Navy Yard and was brought to the Director's Office without delay. Vance met Joe at the door and the two men drank and talk long into the wee hours of the morning about the two men who would soon be on their way with Joe into a very dangerous situation' They finally agreed that if the two men couldn't get one hundred percent focused on the mission that they would be sent back and the Seal Team along with Joe would take out the insurgents that had caused so much trouble for the three individuals at the heart of this current soap opera.

Gibbs threw his bag into the trunk of the agency sedan he had left parked there several weeks ago, not knowing how much his life would change before he drove the car again and went straight to his home only stopping at a local drive-thru to get some much needed substance on the way. Once home he forced down about half of the burger and left the fries sitting on the counter before heading downstairs to the basement to think about everything that had changed in his life. Sanding the beloved boat that he hid below his home did not bring him the peace or clarity of thought that it generally did and before long he was dumping out a jar of screws and pouring himself some bourbon. He swirled the amber liquid in the glass but the smell hit his brain before he could bring it up to his mouth and he flashed back to his behavior in the hospital the last time he had drank his drug of choice. Looking down at his shaking hand he forcefully threw the jar and alcohol against the wall shattering the jar and stomped back up the stairs to take a shower and maybe find release in slumber.

Gibbs' dreams did not provided the rest he had hoped for, he was in the interrogation room in Hawaii with Steve each drinking a beer , "Well that's one thing we have in common, I don't share either." he heard himself say.

Then Steve turned and grinned at him as he tapped their bottles together, "Here's to not sharing."

Gibbs turned away from the scene and was face to face with Shannon, she looked as beautiful as she did the last time he saw her, the day he left for deployment. "You don't share Jethro, why should he?"  
Suddenly the area around him changed and he was running through a parking garage, his heart dropped as he finally recognized it. This particular parking garage had seen his Senior Agent knocked over a safety railing and almost falling to his death. "I don't share either, Boss." Tim's voice rang in his ears, "It's time for you to choose."|He stopped and looked around he was standing in the middle and hanging on the safety rail on one side was Shannon and on the other was Tim. "YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE NOW."

Gibbs made his choice and lunged to save the love of his life with tears in his eyes.

In a hospital room on the other side of the globe, Tim began to stir and the two men watching him let out a relieved sigh. As Tony pulled out his phone to call his Boss and mentor, Danny put a hand on his arm, "Let's wait until the doctors give him a once over and we can tell them exactly what condition he's in." 

AN: So who do you think Gibbs saved?! Please review with your thought and comments. :) stray 


	26. Chapter 26

Gibbs woke up with tears streaming down his face. He laid still in bed for a few minutes getting his emotions under control, when his breathing finally evened out and the tears stopped falling he decided to get out of bed. His intentions of a quick shower were left in vain as his mind relived the dream from the night before, his body tensed up and the man screamed at the water falling as tears once again flowed down his face. "IT WAS JUST A DREAM!"

He felt disconnected from the world the same way that he had in the days following his awakening from his first coma. The lost of his wife and daughter weighed heavy on his mind in those days. The dream seemed to reawaken those feelings and anger and despair. He mechanically left the bathroom and got dressed, thankful that his wardrobe was pretty much interchangeable and he didn't need to really pay attention to his clothing choices.

He walked into the basement to grab his rifle and cleaning kit when he noticed the broken glass from the night before, he cleaned that mess first then continued with his original task to get ready for the mission ahead. No matter what happened in the next few days, when Tim woke up he would be free of the threat that had been hanging over his shoulder for the last year, Gibbs silently made that promise to himself as his mind was overtaken by the steps he needed to clean and reassemble the weapon of death that spread out on his kitchen table.

When he finished with the task at hand he looked over to the clock on the wall, he still had a little over an hour before Joe and Steve would be there to pick him up to begin the final leg of the journey to remove the threat from his youngest son. When that thought crossed his mind he once again felt tears in his eyes, in all the years they had worked together that was the first time either verbally or mentally he thought of Tim as his son and not his agent. Pushing that thought out of his mind he began to fix a light meal for the three men and began another pot of coffee to fill the thermos that would be traveling with them. He hoped that as long as he didn't acknowledge what the dream meant that he could deny that it had any meaning at all.

Joe and Steve arrived right on time and as they were sitting down to eat not one but two cell phones began ringing.

" McGarrett."

"When?"

"What did the doctors say?"

"Thanks, Danno. Keep me informed."  
While Steve answered the phone in the kitchen, Gibbs answered his in the living room.

"Gibbs"

"Tell him he doesn't have permission to not be okay."  
"Keep us updated."  
The weight that had been on both of their shoulders seemed to lift with the two phone calls and Joe was confident leaving with the two men to enter into battle.

The three men once again sat at the kitchen table to eat, Steve had a huge grin, "He's waking up, Joe."

Joe nodded at the younger man and looked at Gibbs who was barely smiling. "Jethro?" he asked slightly worried.  
"I'm good, Joe. He knows he doesn't have permission to be anything but fine."  
When Gibbs looked up he saw the man sitting across from him almost as if for the first time and what he saw was himself many years ago. He saw the man who fell in love with a beautiful red haired girl and who had fathered a wonderful daughter. He saw the future that Tim could have with Steve and even though it still hurt him, it was a future that a father would want for his son.

He smirked to himself, even though he had come to that painful revelation he wasn't going to make it easy on the man. If Tim really wanted Steve, Gibbs would not stand in his way, that didn't mean that he would make it easy on the man because honestly he didn't think there was a person on the face of the earth that was worthy of the love of his youngest son.

Gibbs sat back in his chair and smiled as he looked at the picture of his wife and daughter on the mantle in the living room. While he knew that Tim would accept that he would always have to share Gibbs with Shannon, he also knew that it would kill him little by little any eventually the wonderful, caring soul that was Timothy McGee would be broken. He loved the man too much to do that to him.

He looked up to see Steve and Joe staring at him, he picked up his bottle of beer and raised it in toast to the two men, " Here's to not sharing."  
Steve gave him an odd look but said nothing he simply touched his bottle to Gibbs and took a long drink staring at the man the whole time.

NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS-NCIS

Tim slowly started feeling a soft bed under him and an excruciating pain in his leg. He tried to finally fight through the darkness that was holding him tight and beg for something for the pain. He could hear parts of conversations around him but they seemed garbled and incomplete. He thought for a brief moment that he was underwater but that made no sense because he could feel the soft bed underneath his body. He continued to fight the darkness until he used up the little reserve of energy he had, as the darkness reclaimed him he noticed the pain had lessened in his leg.

Once again the first sensation that Tim recognized was a soft bed under him and garbled conversation around him. He decided to concentrate on getting his eyes to open, while he ignored the pain he was feeling. The pain wasn't as intense as the last time he fought this battle but it was still present. He finally managed the Herculean task of opening his eyes and immediately regretted the action as a bright light shot through his skull. He felt a groan escape from his throat and tried to puzzle out why he hadn't heard it but that puzzle was too much as darkness once again reclaimed him.

The third time Tim began the battle with the darkness he felt stronger or may the darkness was just getting weaker and not holding him so tight. He managed to open his eyes and look around the room he was in, it didn't take long for him to realize he was in a hospital but something was terribly wrong. He could see several machines around him and after a simple visual inspection he knew they were hooked up to him but he couldn't hear the steady beep that should be coming from the heart monitor. He turned and saw his partner walking up to the side of the bed. Tony's mouth moved but no sound came out, he really wasn't in the mood for Tony's game right now.

"WHAT?", even though he knew he said the word he was shocked because the only sound he heard came from a great distance.

Fear gripped the young man lying in the bed, why couldn't he hear the world right around his bed, Tony's mouth kept moving but Tim could hear no sound coming out of his mouth.

AN: Sorry about the long wait, but it's the holiday season and I work in retail, so updates will come as I have the time but I promise I will not abandon my story. Please review with thoughts and comments. :) stray


	27. Chapter 27

The elation that Tony felt on seeing his young friend awake was quickly replaced with horror upon realizing that the injured man couldn't hear what he was saying, he saw the fear on the face of the younger man and tried his best to calm him at the same time as he tried to hold down the fear he was feeling.

The truth of the situation dawn on Tim and fear took him at an astounding speed to the worst case possibilities. His whole life since his sixteenth birthday had revolved around one goal, becoming an NCIS field agent, and now it was over.

He had lost everything he was and everything he had ever wanted to be in the one fateful moment that he was caught in the bomb blast.

His mind screamed one question at him, "Who am I, now?" Sadly he had no answer to that question and it continued to roll around in his head demanding that he figure it out so he could determine what course of action he should now take.

He turned all of his thoughts inward and ignored the things going on around him in the hospital room. He didn't see Tony desperately trying to get his attention or the frantic call the older man made to get a Doctor into the room.

Tim jumped in surprise when he felt the hand on his arm that brought him out of his dark spiral and he looked at the man in the white coat blankly not understanding what he was trying to find out. He took the small notebook the man handed him and stared at the words written on it without understanding them for a minute before the realization dawned on him that he needed to communicate to the man.

"Do you know where you are?", was written on the paper.

Tim looked at the man and nodded in the affirmative. "Hospital.", he said and then frowned when he didn't hear the word he knew he spoken.

The Doctor gave him a small smile and took the notepad from him and scribbled the next question, "Are you in any pain?"

Tim motioned for the pen and wrote his response because saying words that he couldn't hear was unnerving. "Some in my leg and a slight headache, tired more than anything." The simple sentence seemed to take most of the energy he had so he leaned back in the bed and closed his eyes.

The Doctor once again place a gentle hand on his arm to get his attention, "Just a couple of minutes and then you can get some more rest."

The Doctor took the pad back and wrote "Can you hear anything?"

"Garbled. From a distance." Tim tried to put what he was hearing into words and make the Doctor understand.

The Doctor nodded and gently used his hand to close Tim's eyes in the universal sign to tell him it was okay for him to get some more rest.

Tim kept his eyes closed but the question of who he was continued to run rampant in his head and prevented him from getting any real rest.

The Doctor looked at the two men who had performed an almost constant vigil at his patient's bedside, " He needs rest and time to adjust to the changes in his life. My greatest fear for him right now is that he will fall into a deep depression. The lost of his hearing will affect his whole life, you must constantly work to remind him that even though he lost his hearing he is the same person he was before. Also the damage to his leg will mean that he also had to adjust to the lost of mobility at the same time. He will have long rehabilitation ahead of him but once he mentally adjust to the fundamental changes in his life the rest of the rehab will come easier."  
Finishing the Doctor shook the hands of both men and walked out of the room.

"What do we tell the guys?", Danny asked Tony as they watched the medical professional leave the room.

"He is awake and needs a lot of rehab. We can't tell them anything else until they are back on the friendly side of the world." Tony said running his hand through his hair.

Tony couldn't in good conscience tell Gibbs and Steve what the Doctor had just told them until the were safely out of a combat zone. Both men would loss focus on the mission and Tony refused to allow either to become a liability, once they had taken out the insurgents that were targeting Tim then they could come home and hear all the gory details of his injuries.

The Seal Team with McGarrett and Gibbs in tow, had just boarded the assault helicopter that would take them to the location of the group they were targeting when the Sat phone that Steve kept in his bag began to ring.

"McGarrett"  
"What did the Doctor say?"

"Well we expected that. What aren't you telling me, Danno?"

"I'll call tomorrow and I expect the whole story."  
Steve closed the phone with a grimace on his face. He looked at Joe and Gibbs, "Tim woke up." he said simply.

"And?", Gibbs asked when he didn't give anymore information.

"Danno said and I quote, ' He has a lot of rehab in front of him.'"

"What else?" Gibbs asked cautiously.

"Nothing, he's hiding something, probably because they are aware that we are in the middle of this hell hole." Steve was growling and looked like he wanted to hijack the helicopter and fly it right back to Hawaii.

"Steve" Gibbs said loudly to get the man's full attention. When Steve looked at the older man he stared him straight in the eyes and held him with the intensity of the look, "Tim is strong, he will survive whatever it is, we just need to finish this and make sure we get back to him in one piece."

Steve looked at the man hard and then smiled.

"You're right, there's no way in hell I'm going back to Gemcity and tell him that we decided to go around the world to get hurt when he managed to do it just fine at home."  
Gibbs returned the smile. "He'd fuss us for not waiting for him to finish this, after all it was his program that started it all and he hates to leave anything half done."

The attack on the insurgent camp was in full swing, they had placed Gibbs on a ridge overlooking the area as the Seal Team moved in to remove the targets. The orders had been clear, they were to leave no survivors from the camp.

The team was about a hundred and fifty yards from Gibbs' position with fifty more yards to the camp when Joe's voice came through the radio in their ears, "Hounds appear to be on the move, Alpha Team, close the distance and prepare to halt all movement."

"Cease and desist order ready to be served.", the leader of the Seal Team responded

"Fox, fire at will." Joe gave the order for Gibbs to open fire on the camp from his position.

Steve knew that now was the most dangerous time for the older sniper because if any of the insurgents got through the Seal Team line, Gibbs had very little cover and no back-up. Gibbs was on an island alone.

Steve counted five steady shots come from the sniper position before Joe's voice was back in his ear, "Fox has disabled all vehicles, hounds are now leashed. Thirty heat signatures spotted, remove threat"

The Seal Team was now at the camp and the insurgents were aware of the threat they faced. Steve engaged a small group and was quickly dispatching his targets when he felt more than saw someone fall behind him, he turned to see an insurgent fall to the ground with a large hole in his stomach. Steve glanced towards the sniper position and thought ,' Damn, first rounds on me. I owe him one.'

They had about twenty confirmed kills when Steve once again heard Joe's voice "Fox as been spotted five hounds heading to him, Alpha Leader, MG head to Fox."

Steve turned at a full run dispatching two more insurgents that blocked the straightest path to Gibbs. With each step he muttered, "Shit, shit, shit."

Steve spotted the Seal Team leader to the left penned down by an insurgent in one of the buildings, "Fox, Alpha Leader occupied by hound in third building on left."

The sound of sniper rifle echoed, followed the scream of the insurgent and the dull thud as he hit the ground.

The Team Leader smiled as he found Steve and mouthed lets go keep him safe.

As the two men ran to the sniper position the past three bodies that had been taken out by other man, so if Joe was right only two more insurgents remained.

They continued and got their first sight of the older man engaged in hand to hand with one of the insurgents while the other laid on the ground appearing unconscious. Gibbs seemed to be holding his own so they slowed slightly as they moved towards the altercation.

The insurgent got a clean shot to the older man's midsection and Gibbs started to crumble to the ground when Steve caught a glimpse of metal from the older man's boot.

Gibbs caught his balance with the tips of his fingers on his left hand while he pulled his knife out of his boot with his right, not even a second past before he was moving back up with the knife burying it deeply into the gut of his opponent. As Gibbs was dispatching the man in front of him, Steve noticed the man on the ground behind them start to show signs of life, without a second thought he pull out his side arm and quickly put several bullets into the man.

Gibbs pulled his knife out of the dead insurgent and turned around to see the body of the second terrorist fall.

Gibbs and Steve nodded at each other respect slowly starting to form in each man for the other

AN: Only a few more chapters left. Please review with your thoughts and comments.:) stray


	28. Chapter 28

Steve walked right beside Gibbs to the now occupied insurgent camp, the Seal Team was in full clean up mode removing all traces that an armed unit had come in and removed the group. The computer specialist on the team was working on down loading everything he could off the group's computer before deleting everything and leaving a virus similar to the one Tim had used a year ago for the next group that would take over the camp and equipment. They all knew one thing for certain there would be another group to come in all fill the void they had just created.

"Extraction in ten" Joe's voice once again echoed in their ears.

The Seal Team picked up the pace to complete their jobs before their ride arrived.

"You cleaned up your nest?" the Seal Leader asked Gibbs.

Gibbs gave the man a hard glare, "Not my first rodeo."

The younger man smiled at the comment and looked around at all the damage the sniper had caused at the camp, "No, I guess it's not."

Steve noticed the Gibbs was still favoring his mid-section and pulled the older man aside to talk away from the rest of the Team, "How bad?"

"I'm fine."

"Yeah, now I know who taught Gemcity to be so stubborn."

"You know he hates it when you call him that, right?"

Steve just smiled and the older man rolled his eyes, "Your funeral."

"Back to my question, how bad?"

"Probably bruised from the last swing, I've had worse."

Steve decided that diplomacy was his best option, "If it's still bothering you when we get back stateside, have someone look at it, okay?"

Gibbs just gave him a stubborn glare and Steve knew he might have to force the issue.

They heard the helicopter arriving and moved back to the group for extraction.

Once on the attack helicopter the medic for the Team was going around bandaging the cuts and treating the bruises of the men, thankfully the worst of the injuries was a broken ankle that was quickly stabilized in the field and ready to be treated fully once they landed. When the medic got to the two extra men on the team Steve decided to keep quiet, the Team Leader was not informed of the plan of action so he voiced loudly to the medic, "He took a nasty body shot, I think he may have a few broken ribs."  
Gibbs simply glared at the man, who wasn't paying any attention to the reaction his words brought from the two men. Steve was trying really hard not to laugh and almost lost that battle when the sat phone in his bag began to ring once again.

"McGarrett."

"Hey Steve. It's Danny. Can you talk?"  
"On a helicopter right now starting the journey home, why?"

"Call me when you get a chance, it's bad Steve."  
"Hey,I'm here right now. You can tell me."  
"No not now, call when you get a room somewhere and you have a couple of beers, you'll need them."  
"Is it about Tim? Danno..."

The silence on the other end of the phone was unnerving.

"Yeah... call me."

Danny hung up.

Steve looked at Gibbs trying to decide if he should tell the older man his fears after the phone call he had just received, the words that Tim had said to them at the hospital right before the explosion made the decision for him. Tim had told the two men to take care of each other and holding back facts from the man wasn't what Tim would want.

"Gibbs." The Marine looked at him fear already in his eyes after hearing only half of the phone conversation.

"Somethings wrong and it's bad, but Danno won't tell me anything more until we are heading home tomorrow."  
"Is it Tim?"

"Yeah, but he said to call once we had a couple of beers, that we would need them."  
Gibbs turned from the younger man and ran his hand through his hair blinking back the tears and fear that threaten to overtake him. Once he had his emotions back in check he turned to the Seal.

"He doesn't have my permission to be anything but fine."

Anger burst open inside of Steve, "Do you think you have that power over him? YOU ARE NOT GOD."

Gibbs' reply was soft and only barely audible, "I know I'm not, but right now I have to believe that or all is lost."

Steve saw the pain his words caused the older man and was immediately remorseful for his outburst, "I'm sorry. I just can't deal with the idea that he might not make it."

"He'll make it, I didn't give him any other option."

Steve took the words for what they were, balm to make him able to deal with the situation until they knew more.

Tim was becoming more frustrated with his partner by the minute. Every member of the MCRT had learned the basics of ASL over the years from working with Gibbs and Abby who used it frequently when passing messages that they didn't want others to overhear. Tony only knew a few basic commands and responses but Tim had learned it all, his mind being a sponge as for as languages were concerned.

He once again glare at Tony and signed, "Talk."

Tony began to sign to the bed ridden man asking about his pain levels in his leg.

Tim could feel the angry surging through his body as Tony refused to do the simple things that he was asking and fearing that he would run out of time before the pain medication would once again send him into the darkness that his body needed to recuperate.

He punched the bed to get the other man's attention "No talk." he signed once again.

Tony looked at him confused by the other man's request.

"I don't understand." he mumbled frustrated with the whole situation.

Tim was looking straight at him and signed the words he had just mumbled.

Tony just stood in shocked silence for a minute, he grabbed a nearby dry erase board that they were using when he needed to communicate more than his ASL allowed.

"Can you hear me?" he wrote hopefully.

Tim sadly shook his head and reached for the board, "Lips" was the only word he wrote.

Tony looked at him, "Are you trying to learn to lip read."

Tim smiled and nodded his head yes as he signed the words that came out of Tony's mouth.

Just then the nurse came in and frown at the two men, "He needs to be resting."

She looked at Tony completely ignoring the man in the bed. She then moved over to the bed and checked over his vitals.

"How is his pain levels?" she asked the older man still not looking at her patient.

Tony looked directly at the younger man, "How much pain?"

"Leg constant throbbing. Head better.", he wrote on the board.

When the nurse once again began to question Tony he turned her around by the shoulders to face the man in the bed.

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad?" she said finally looking at her patient.

"Legs eight, head three or four." Tim wrote.

"I'll be right back with something for the pain." she said once again looking right at Tim.

When she left, Tim gave his partner a bashful grin of thanks.

"I got you Probie. We'll get through this together." 

AN: Thank you so much for all the reviews, favs and follows. This story is almost at an end so just a few more chapters left. Up next Gibbs and Steve return to Hawaii. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	29. Chapter 29

Gibbs and Steve rushed to the hospital straight from the airstrip at Pearl, the call from Danny the night before had been anything but satisfying for the two older men. All they knew for sure was that Tim had lost the majority of his hearing. The condition of his leg was also troublesome. Gibbs had used the time during the transport back to Hawaii teaching Steve the fundamentals of ASL so Steve would be able to have a rudimentary conversation with the younger man once they arrived. Neither mentioned the huge white elephant that flew on the plane with them, the future Tim would have with NCIS. Both understood that he was no longer capable of returning as a field agent, though Vance had swore that the younger man would always have a place at the agency as a technical analysis. Gibbs had decided that he would be the one to break that news to the injured man, so he made the trip with a heavy heart.

"Timothy McGee!" Tony could be heard fussing for half way down the hall.

"I know you know I'm talking to you."  
The two men entered the room unnoticed by the occupants. Tim was glaring at Tony and Danny sitting on the edge of his bed grabbing frantically for the crutches the Senior Field Agent was holding just out of his reach.

"Look at me." Tony demanded.

Tim looked up directly at Tony with his best Gibbs glared.

"You are not leaving that bed until the Doctor gives you permission."  
Tim signed a very unpleasant response to Tony's statement.

Tony growled in frustration and handed Tim the dry erase board.

'Nurses brought them in yesterday and I know how to use them. Let me up!' the younger man wrote hurriedly.

Gibbs took this as his chance to get involved. He walked behind Tony and quickly grabbed the crutches out of his hand and turned to the injured man ready to give him the Gibbs slap he so desperately needed, but seeing the frustration and desperation in the younger man's eyes the heat of the action was gone and he just grabbed the back of the younger man's head and pulled him into an embrace.

Tim leaned into the embrace taking the comfort that was offered in the older man's arms. He looked up and saw Steve leaning against the door frame watching the scene unfold in front of him. He reached out to included the other man. Gibbs slowly backed away from the bed and allowed Steve to reach the younger man and pull him into an embrace that was more emotional comfort than the physical comfort he received from the Marine.

The reunion was interrupted by Tim's Doctor entering the room. "Agent McGee, I wasn't aware that this was the social center of the hospital?", he joked looking directly at the man in the bed as he spoke.

Tim signed back to the Doctor and Gibbs immediately began to translate for everyone in the room, "When can I begin therapy to regain use of my leg?"

The Doctor gave the young man a sad smile, "Tim, you were comatose for almost three weeks after receiving sever damage to a leg that had already recovered from intense trauma once before. Physical therapy will only help in regaining minimal strength. We already discussed the chances of a full recovery and I am sure I informed you that a full recovery was not going to be possible." The Doctor watched the man in the bed carefully for signs of depression as he spoke.

Tim didn't show signs of depression yet but he was full of anger and that was just as destructive an emotion for him to be having in his current state of recovery.

"I will not give up!", he wrote on the board and glared stubbornly at the Doctor.

"I don't want you to give up." the Doctor said looking directly at the injured man. "However, I do want you to be realistic in your recovery goals."

Tim turned away from the Doctor and once again sat up and tried to reach for the crutches that were leaning at the foot of his bed by Gibbs. When the older man once again moved the crutches out of his reach Tim reacted in pure anger much like a two year old would and threw the dry erase board and marker across the room.

Kono and Bishop choose that moment to enter the room and quickly ducked to avoid the flying stationary. Both women were shocked by the unexpected outburst from the normally calm man that had wormed his way into their hearts.

"Tim?", Kono questioned looking at the young man, clearly wanting an explanation for the childish behavior.

Tim signed 'Tired' , closed his eyes and used the bed controls to lower the bed. He then proceeded to completely ignore the people in the room.

Kono motioned for the people in the room to follow her and led them to the cafeteria in the hospital where they all grabbed coffee. No one spoke as the coffee was doctored to each persons individual taste and they found seats around a large table in the corner where they could have some privacy.

Kono looked hard at each person at the table before speaking, "None of you are capable of helping Tim at the moment. Each of you as experienced loss in one form or another but not one of you know what it is like to lose yourself. When you lose a loved one you miss that person, but you still have your own personal goals and achievements to hold onto, they eventually remind you of who your are and allow you to heal. Tim as spend the entirety of his adult life achieving one goal in specific, becoming a field agent for NCIS and now he had to face a future without that achievement. Tim lost himself in the explosion."  
"I guess you know what that feels like?" Tony asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, thanks to a wipe out on a surf board at age sixteen."

One good look at the young woman showed the haunted look in her eyes that still came back when she thought about that tragic day.

"Yeah, I think I can help him."

AN: Sorry about the long delay, real life decided to intrude on my writing, but I hope to finish both of my works in progress without any further interruptions. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)


	30. Chapter 30

The group remained quiet while they finished their refreshments in the cafeteria. One by one leaving to return to their residences or hotel room and their waiting beds. Finally only Gibbs, Steve and Kono remained. Kono got up and refilled the cups of the two older men, visually gaining and holding their attention as she placed their cups in front of them.

"I'll stay here overnight. You need to go home clean up and mentally prepare for the battle ahead.", she stated firmly.

When both men began to argue, she raised a hand to end the arguments, taking a sip of her coffee until silence once again reigned at the table.

"Gibbs, you are his boss at the job he dreamed of since his teens. Steve you represent a future he seriously thought about for almost a year. Both of you represent a life that he feels was taken from him. He needs time and space to adjust to the life he must now live."

As the truth of her words sunk in, pain appeared on both of their faces.

"I'm not saying you can't spend time with him, but you can't push him right now. For all extents and purposes, Tim is in mourning over his old life."

As they finished their coffee and rose to leave. Kono once again spoke, "Why don't you go up and visit for a couple of minutes before you head out?"

The two men turned to look at her and saw a knowing smile on her face.

"He needs his rest, which he will not get if I have to stop you from sneaking into his room at all hours of the night."

Busted the two men returned her smile as they turned to head up to Tim's room.

Kono laughed to quietly to herself while she refilled her cup once again. She took her time returning to the injured man's room, making sure Gibbs and Steve had alone time with Tim before she arrived to chase them away.

Tim awoke to the soft rays of early morning sunlight streaming into his hospital room and landing on his face. He felt that this was the only benefit to losing his hearing. The way his other senses were growing allowing him to experience things he never noticed before, the feeling of sunlight on his face, the vibrations of someone approaching his bed, and even the various fragrances of shampoo, soap and cologne worn by his friends. He could basically tell who was in his room without ever opening his eyes. Today, like most days, since he awoke from his coma the thought was very appealing. He knew once he opened he opened his eyes, his brain would acknowledge the loss of sound that should accompany the bustle of machines and people in the room. A single tear slide down his face as he once again awoke to a world where he wasn't even close to the man he use to be, a world without sound.

He felt someone approaching his bed and his nose registered the soft, floral fragrance of perfume worn by Kono.

He opened his eyes and reached for the dry erase board and marker on the nearby table to greet her only to realize they weren't where he expected.

He turned to look at the young woman, question of their location clearly written across his face.

She smiled at him and calmly shook her head in the negative.

"You can read lips and I know enough ASL for us to get by.",she stated slowly.

"Besides, I think it is long past time for you to serenade me with the eloquence of your voice.", she continued as he attempted to glare a hole through her face.

He simply reached out his hand for the board, which he saw leaning against the wall across the room.

What he didn't realize was that the young woman had the patience of Job and a stubborn steak that could match Gibbs. So they stayed like two Ancient Grecians who had stumbled upon Medusa. Tim with his arm reaching for the dry erase board and Kono hands on her hips standing between the injured man and his desire, both glaring at the other.

Finally Tim gave and began signing to Kono all the reasons he needed the board to communicate.

Kono interrupted the man not long into his silent soliloquy, "I believe, I said I wanted to hear your voice. You can use the board when everyone shows up later and it becomes difficult for you to keep up. Right now it's just the two of us. So I want to hear your voice."

Tim was once again glaring at the young woman, unbelieving the lack of empathy she was showing. Finally his temper got the better of him, " Is this what you want?!" he said through anger fueled tears, which where flowing freely down his face. "Me to sound like a freak because I can't distinguish between volume and tone in my own voice."

"Oh Tim", she said with a soft smile, "You don't sound like a freak. Your voice is just as beautiful as it always. You just need to learn to appreciate it once again."

"You don't understand," he continued not acknowledging the words she had spoken. "I can't hear. I can't walk. I'm a federal field agent, that can no longer go in the field. I LOST EVERYTHING!"

Kono's face once again became stern as she looked him right in the eyes and spoke very clearly and very slowly, "You have not lost everything unless you are willing to stop trying. You have a magnificent mind and top notch computer skills to go along with it. You want to be the poor little boy in the room that can't hear anything, that is a choice you can make. However if you are looking for sympathy from me, here." she threw a dictionary on his bed.

He picked up the book and looked at her questioningly.

"It's somewhere between shit and syphilis."

Kono left the room leaving Tim alone with his thoughts once again.

Slowly a huge grin came across his face and he began to laugh, truly laugh for the first time since he awoke from his coma.

AN: Hope you enjoyed. I really wanted the emphasize the mental battle in any recovery from a sever injury. Kono's behavior is based on those of a wonderful therapist that helped me learn to walk again after a car accident twenty years ago. Her final comment is a direct quote he used to get me out of a wheel chair and onto the bars fighting through the pain. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	31. Chapter 31

The next few days set the pattern for what was to go on throughout Tim's rehabilitation, Kono would spend the night at the hospital and the morning with the injured man unless Five-0 had a case. Most mornings were spent talking about what was taken from both of the young people and how Kono had worked through the dark spiral of her injury. She even brought copies of her more spectacular rides and began to teach Tim about surfing and how professional competitions were ran. She smuggled in Tim a laptop and encouraged him to begin working with computer programming and coding. Much to her surprise and very promising for the young man's mental well-being, Tim also began writing again and the first several chapters of a new Gemcity novel was written in the hospital room.

The friendship between the two grew into a tight sibling-like relationship prompting Tony to make the comment, " It's a good thing your into guys Probie, because all the hot girls seem to look on you has an older brother."

That comment earned him a head slap from Gibbs, a deathly glare from Chin and the dark whispered comment from Danny about Tony never even getting a glimpse of Gracie.

It also earned him a smile from Steve when Tim burst out laughing and Kono just shook he head and rolled her eyes at the Italian.

Noon would bring in the whole crew for lunch and to make sure Tim didn't whither away into nothing while in the hospital he was introduced to Kamekona and the very good if very unique food from the large Hawaii's food truck.

Tim and Kamekona became quick friends as Tim being a Navy brat appreciated the other man's unique use of condiments in his cooking. The larger man would almost always bring in one of the Gemcity books to be autographed by the author whenever he brought in the meal. After signing the a copy of Deep Six for the third time Tim asked Steve what exactly was the large Hawaiian doing with the books.

"Don't Ask Don't Tell" was the Seal's cryptic answer.

Lunch was always rambunctious and brought several visits from the frustrated nursing staff requesting them to tone in down, however seeing the smile on the injured man's face guaranteed there was never much heat in the scolding.

After lunch was rehab and much to the disappointment of the two team leader's Tim would often request that only Tony was present through the grueling workouts. They stopped questioning the Italian and pestering Tim daily once Tony explained that Tim didn't want the two men he cared so deeply for to see him at his weakest on a daily basis. Tim knew he wouldn't be able to put his all into the workouts if he was worrying about the pain he was bringing to the other men. So the two men would leave after lunch without any questions and allow Tim the time he needed to recover from his injuries.

Once rehab was completed and a heavy dose of pain-killers was administered to the injured man which made him slightly loopy and very sleepy, Danny, Chin or Ellie would relieve Tony and spend some time with the man and watch to make sure he hadn't over-done anything and was getting the rest his body physically needed. They would also spend time helping him practice lip-reading and working through his frustration at the loss of one of his senses.

Supper was a quiet affair with just Steve and Gibbs showing up with a small meal as the injured man didn't need the extra stimulus a larger group would bring. They each provided the comfort physically and emotionally the younger man needed. Despite their best efforts and the desire of the injured man, the pain and betrayal of trust Tim felt towards the older men for their action before the bomb blast always seemed to bleed into the room. Betrayal was any injury that only time would heal because there was no rehabilitation for a broken heart. Tim hated the fact that he couldn't simply forget about what happened and that self-loathing did nothing to help his emotional well-being so the evening meal was never very long and Kono would show up to once again begin the routine.

One month after the return of the team leaders from their mission in Afghanistan, Tim was released from the hospital and admitted into a long term rehabilitation center. It was with heavy heart that Tim informed the members of his team of his decision to complete his rehab in Hawaii and not return to Washington with them.

Tim looked around at the shocked faces of his team, his friends, " I have given this a lot of thought. If I'm ever to fully come to terms with everything I've lost I can't submerge myself back into my old life. I have to start rebuilding myself, and I would like to do it here. I'm not saying I won't go back , I'm just saying I can't do that right now. I'm not the man who left DC to take care of his sister, I need to discover who this new person is before I try to integrate him with the old one. Please understand."

Tim could see the pain and the understanding in his team leaders eyes, he could also see the anger and hurt his words caused his best friend.

"So that's it. What about your old life your apartment your stuff. You are just going to leave and pretend that none of that exist?" Tony said anger building with every word. Tony began pacing the room as he spoke and Tim could only see about every third word his friend had said.

"Tony.", Tim said trying to get his attention. The more Tim had recovered the more often Tony would forget that he needed to look at the man when he was speaking to him. Tim always thought that was a good thing until today.

"You can still work. Vance said he would keep a place in Cyber open for you for as long as needed. You don't have to give up everything."

"Tony." Tim said again getting more frustrated trying to keep up with the Italian's rant.

"I can help you all you would do is say the word and I would be there for you day or night."

"Tony." Tim said once more giving the team leader a pleading look.

Shaking his head Gibbs moved quickly behind Tony and administered the head slap the younger man needed to regain control.

When Tony looked at him confused Gibbs simply raised his eyebrows and nodded toward Tim in the bed, in the opposite direction from which Tony was facing.

"Uh." , the senior field agent was embarrassed by his obvious faux pas.

"Tony, I can't go back to my apartment." Tim said looking at his damaged leg sadly. "I will never go into the field with you again, but even though my life is changing doesn't mean you won't be a big part of it. I need you to go back and pack up all my stuff for me, so I will still have it when I'm ready. I also need someone to teach Gibbs how to Skype so we can all keep in touch."

When he said this he looked over to Ellie, who had remained quiet throughout the announcement.

She gave a soft smile and a nod to the man who had help begin her training.

"And you need someone here to look out for you.", Ducky said entering the room.

"Jethro." he said looking at the team leader, "I have just gotten of the phone with Director Vance and we have decided that it is time for these old bones to enjoy a few years of retirement. I will remain here and aid NCIS at Pearl but my primary job will be to keep a sharp eye on your boy here."

"Don't worry," he said looking at the two other members of the MCRT, "I will take good care of him."

AN: Only a couple of more chapters left on this one. I'm sorry about the long delay. But I'm back and I will finish the story before April becomes May. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)


	32. Chapter 32

The car ride to Pearl Harbor Navy Base was quiet, once again Steve and Gibbs rode in the front with Danny and Tim in the back behind their respective team leaders. The MCRT minus Tim would be flying back to DC having used up all their vacation, sick and comp time plus all the time the other agents could sign over to them. Six weeks after the mission in Afghanistan and a little over two months since Tim had received the frantic SOS from Sandy. The car was quiet not from anger or contemplation, but simply because no one could think of any words to express what they were feeling.

The feelings of abandonment that began when Gibbs saw Tim getting his gear together in DC all that time ago returned, even while Tim's promise to eventually return DC rang in his head.

"Boss, whatever this is between us is not over. I just need time and honestly I think so do you. I don't want to be another mistake, or a replacement. I want you to come to me without any reservations. If you can't give me all, this will end like all the others. I don't want to hurt you like that and right now I don't think I could survive being hurt in that way."

"Tim I would never deliberately hurt you." Gibbs looked down at his hands and wanted to curse has he once again saw Tim's blood on his hand from that fateful night, before the bomb blast.

"I know that, but you can hurt me without trying. Last year in Afghanistan, Steve was there when I woke up in the hospital. He stayed with me and I started to develop feelings for him."

"Tim, I don't want to hear this." Gibbs growled.

"No you need to, I wanted to take it further, but he wouldn't he said ' I can see the desire in your eyes, but when I look beyond the here and now, I can tell you long for someone else. When you can come to me without that longing, when you can come to me not to erase the pain of not having someone else, I'll be waiting.' He left that day. So now I'll tell you the same, when you can come to me, only for me and not to cover the pain of Shannon and Kelly, I'll be waiting., but if you can't do that let me know so I can build a future with someone else."

Neither man said another word as there was a knock on the hotel room door and DiNozzo entered, "Cars are waiting outside."

He looked at Tim, "No chair today."

Tim looked down at the brace on his leg and the walking canes he started using at the rehab center and shook his head, "Nope, I only need the chair if I'm going to up for long periods of time. The braces give me more mobility so I want to get use to using them more often."

Gibbs grabbed his gear from off the bed that Tim was sitting on and waited for Tim to stand, staying by his side in case he need help balancing on the brace.

Once Tim was standing, Gibbs used his body to hide from Tony him giving Tim one final message, "I'll let you know." he signed.

No other words were said between the two men on the trip to Pearl.

Steve was also deep in thought during the trip, he knew that he had broken the trust that Tim had place in him when he called Director Vance. He was also aware that pushing his own agenda while the younger man was healing and vulnerable from the loss of his hearing, leg and now the people he considered family, would be wrong and a further breach of that trust. That sense of honor was at constant war with his desire to pull the man into his arms and protect him from the big bad world, was frustrating him to no end.

A recent conversation he had with Kono was running in his head during the ride.

"How can I protect him if he is pushing me away and trying to be all independent.", Steve huffed.

"You can't. Tim needs to realize that he is independent before he can allow himself to rely on anyone again. That is why he is staying here instead of returning to DC. Once he rediscovers who he is, he will be ready to make decisions about his old life and the new life he has to create. Give him space Steve or you will lose him. He is placing a lot of trust in you by staying here and letting you remain in his life. Don't betray him again."

"But I want...", it wasn't quiet a whine that came from the Seal.

"It doesn't matter what you want. It's about what Tim needs."

With that statement Kono stomped out of his office.

As the two teams disembarked from the cars, Tony walked straight up to Tim and looked him in the eyes, "I'll pack up your stuff and put it into storage. Is there anything you need shipped here in the mean time?"

Tim nodded, "I'll make a list and email it to you."

Ellie walked up behind Tony and kissed Tim gently on the cheek, "Me and Abby have come up with a game plan to drag Bossman into the current century,or at least get him comfortable with Skype."

"Thanks." Tim answered with a smile.

The two team leaders both stayed by the car looking over the roof at each other, the faint strands of Journey's 'Open Arms' could be heard from a nearby radio.

"If he ever hurts you, true love won't desert you."

They looked hard into each others eyes .

Message received.

AN: I don't own Open Arms by Journey either. After almost two years two more chapters to go. Please review with your thoughts and comments. :) stray


	33. Chapter 33

"The ride from Pearl was much like ride there, spent in quiet contemplation.

Steve was trying to figure out how to offer the man support without damaging the budding romance and squashing the heavily damaged self-esteem of the younger man.

Tim's mind was on his former team and his old life that today more than any previous day in his rehabilitation seemed over.

Before either man was ready the ride was over and they where arriving at the Palace where Tim would meet with the Governor.

"Do you have any idea why the Governor wants to meet with me?", Tim asked curious as to the reason for the unexpected request.

Both Steve and Danny shook their heads no and hastily exited the vehicle, while Tim was a little slower behind them fixing the brace on his leg and balancing on the walking crutches that would now be part of his everyday life. He hated them but the rehabilitation of his leg had gone as far as it would go, there just had been too much nerve and muscle damage done when his leg was crushed in the explosion. That along with his loss of hearing was a very bitter pill to swallow for the independent man.

When he finally exited the car he had to crush down the anger that rose from the pit of his stomach when he saw the two men remove his wheel chair from the trunk of the car.

Steve turned and saw the glare Tim was sending to the chair, he quickly moved right in front of the man and gently placed his hands on either side of his face to make sure Tim was looking directly in his eyes and face so he wouldn't misunderstand the message.

"It's just in case we take longer than expected, I'm not going to force you to use it. I'm not going to risk your well-being either."

Tim nodded and gave the man a half-hearted smile, in return conveying that he understood what the other man was saying but that he didn't really like the message.

Tim slowly walked into the palace, his demeanor becoming more bashful as each officer they met commented on the fact that he was walking again for the first time since the explosion. He was surprised that so many people had monitored his recovery, even if it was at a distance.

By the time the trio reached the Five-0 headquarters he was beginning to noticeably falter so Steve quickly directed him to one of the chairs. Tim wasn't willing to admit how much he appreciated the gesture or how quickly he had wore himself out. He knew that he still had a long way to go, but he was getting impatient with the limits of his body. He had accepted the fact that he would never be able to do things he considered simple activities before the accident but he wanted to do what he could expect from his body now.

Danny motioned to Steve quickly recognizing the waves if frustration coming off the injured man, getting Steve into action to head off the negative thoughts.

Steve nodded to Danny while getting on his cell calling one of the few people guaranteed to help bring Tim out of the depression he seemed to be falling into.

A few minutes after their arrival the two men heard a distinct bark that announced the arrival of the visitor they had been waiting on, "Sandy." Danny greeted the young woman when she entered with her canine body guard.

Jethro gave the blond man a snort of amused disdain before walking up and demanding to be petted. The two had started off rocky but had become friends even if neither was willing to let go of their original disagreement.

What surprised the detective was the second canine the young woman brought in with her, "Who is this?" Danny asked.

Sandy reached up to give the detective a friendly hug and responded, " This is JJ."

While Danny was talking to Sandy, Steve was going to Tim touching his shoulder and directing his attention to the young woman and the two canines.

"Sandy.", Tim said shocked to she his sister at the Palace, "What are you doing here?"

The young woman turned to her brother's voice, relying on Danny to make sure she was facing Tim, "What I can't come visit my brother. Meet JJ.", she said while motioning to the new dog.

Tim carefully stood, Steve staying at his side until they were both sure he was balanced on his brace, and walked toward Sandy.

Once he reached the trio he reached down to the newer dog and scratched behind his ear, "Hello JJ."

He looked up at his sister expectantly waiting for an explanation. When she seemed unwilling to provide one, he prompted her, "Well."  
"Here it is, I have been studding Jethro out at the kennel where they breed and train service dogs. JJ here is one of the pups from his last litter. He is nine months old and has completed his initial training. Now he needs to meet his owner and they need to work together to complete his work to become service dog."

"Okay?", Tim was unsure about where this was going. "Do you need a ride or something? I thought the candidates went to the kennel to pick up their animals and I didn't know the animals could leave until the training was completed and the owner fully trained on the commands."

"JJ's new owner doesn't need to much training as he is already familiar with service animals commands, so they just have to become acquainted with each other."

Danny and Steve were working hard to hide their grins at the denseness of their friend, finally coming to the conclusion that Tim wasn't going to make the jump for himself, Sandy shook her head in frustration and sighed deeply.

"Tim meet your new ears."

"But I don't get out of the rehab center until tomorrow and I haven't even applied for a service animal yet.", Tim answered shocked.

"The people at the kennel were more than willing to give you one of Jethro's pup considering he was your dog before you retrained him. They thought you would be more comfortable with the son of your dog."

Tim had never stopped petting the animal and when he finally hugged his sister there was tears in his eyes. "Thank you."

AN: Yes JJ stands for Jethro Junior, I couldn't help myself. Okay the evil muse that took over this story around chapter 6 just won't let go. I wrote what I thought would be the last two chapters and they just seemed like they were rushing to end the story, so I dumped them and I'm going to give this story the ending it deserves. Please review with your thoughts and comments. Stray:)


	34. Chapter 34

Gibbs called his oldest friend as soon as he arrived back in DC, "Fornell."

"The prodigal son finally returns home. How you doing Jethro?"

"Someone once told me its not healthy to drink alone, so get your ass over here Tobias."

Fornell was at the Gibbs household not ten minutes later, he got the first shock when he started to head down to the basement only to be called to the den. The second shock was the whiskey bottle sitting on the table instead of the normal cheap bourbon the two men generally consumed when they set out to drink their problems away.

"Jethro?"

"I lost him Tobias."

Fornell simply stared at the man opened mouth as they had never once spoken out loud about Jethro infatuation with his young agent.

"And you know what?" Gibbs continued. "I can't blame McGarrett or even Tim for it. I lost him because I can't now or ever let go of Shannon."

Fornell dropped down into a nearby chair as the second taboo subject that was never to be brought into the light of day was dropped into open conversation.

"Jethro?" Fornell was in shock and looking at the unopened bottle of alcohol longingly.

Gibbs looked at his friend and gave him a small sympathetic smile, "Go ahead,." He handed his friend the bottle and a glass.

Fornell opened the bottle and poured himself two fingers in the glass, and downed the drink quickly. He then poured himself another drink, this one to drink slowly.

Gibbs sent his trademark smirk to the other man, "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"You're the one bringing up ghost and taboo topics, my friend."

Gibbs poured himself a drink out the bottle and looked long at his friend.

"In Hawaii it was easy to pretend that one day I could love him like he should be, like he deserves to be loved and cherished, but back here in this house... I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he will always be second to a ghost. He deserves better. He deserves to be loved the same way that I loved Shannon; mind, body and soul. How could I ever love him that way when my heart and soul will always belong to another?"

"Do you want me to give me you permission to love again Jethro? Because in all honesty, I can't, that is something that only you can do."

"No, I want permission to let him go. I need someone to tell me that I'm not making the biggest mistake of my life by allowing him to go to another. To go to McGarrett."

"Will McGarrett love him, cherish him?"

"The way that I loved Shannon and you loved Diane. I can see it every time he looks at Tim. He would make Tim the center of his existence."

"One last question and then we will get very drunk. Who is better for Tim?"

A single tear ran down Gibbs' cheek, "He is."

Fornell noticed their glasses were both empty so he refilled them and raised his glass to the other man, "If you love someone set them free."

Silence filled the den of the Gibbs house as the two men drank through the dark of night.

AN: Once again I must apologize for the long wait between updates. As some of you know my oldest son lost his battle with depression at the end of July. Returning to writing as been very difficult for me because I would often use my children as sounding boards of the stories I am writing. However it would be a grave insult to his memory if I didn't continue to follow my dreams as I always encouraged him to do. I know this chapter is very short and very dark and I am sorry. Finishing my three works I progress in difficult but I hope to complete them soon. Please review with your thoughts and comments as they mean more than you can ever know. Stray..


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